The Wishverse Chronicles
by hgh
Summary: The Buffy from the Wishverse gets pulled into Sunnydale. After the initial confusion gets sorted out, she returns to her own universe and her duty as the Slayer there.
1. Doppelganged Again

**__**

Doppelganged Again

* * Prologue * *

"Miles into kilometers" Angel asked throwing a quick left towards Buffy's face. Buffy grabbed his arm and using his own momentum against him sent him tumbling over her shoulder. "Multiply by one point six something." she answered while he rolled back to his feet.

"1.609" he corrected, circling to her right. "You need to be precise."

Buffy grimaced as she resumed her fighting stance. She had suggested the workout to get away from studying conversion facts for a while. She hadn't expected Angel to continue grilling her while trying to find a hole in her defenses.

"Meters to feet" he asked faking a kick at her right leg. 

"3.281" she answered trying to swipe his other leg out from under him. Even as she did so, she realized her mistake. With a triumphant grin Angel took advantage of the fact that she was now off balance herself. He took a hold of her wrists, spun her around, and pinned her up against the wall.

"Ugh" Buffy said disgusted, "I walked right into that. That settles it. Science *is* bad for your health. At least when you're fighting." Angel smiled into her eyes and Buffy felt her heart speed up. "But fighting is good for your science. You actually remember your facts while you're fighting."

"Great" Buffy strained against the wall to give herself a little more room for her next maneuver. "Maybe if I start a fight during this year's finals I'll actually pass."

That drew a short laugh from him, and Buffy took advantage of his distraction to hook one of his legs and make him land on his back. At least that was the plan. For a moment they tottered precariously, then they *both* crashed to the floor, Angel's full weight landing on top of her. Buffy winced. More bruises.

Concern had replaced the laughter in Angel's eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Buffy answered grumpily, chagrined to have screwed up twice in a row. "You just... kind of took my breath away." Angel's face softened and his eyes seemed to turn into two bottomless pools. "I know the feeling." he said quietly, and suddenly her lack of breath had nothing to do with her fall and everything with the expression in his warm, brown eyes.

For what seemed like half an eternity they remained motionless, their faces only inches apart lost in each other's eyes.

The moment was shattered by the shrilling of the telephone. Angel rolled off her, offering her a hand, and Buffy let out the breath she had been holding and pulled herself back to her feet with his help. His eyes lingering on hers a moment longer, Angel turned away to answer the phone.

"Yes? Yeah, she's here." He handed her the receiver. "Giles is looking for you."

* * *

Buffy followed Willow down the stairs behind the stage of Sunnydale High's auditorium. "Are you sure Anyanka is trying her spell here at the school? We've been practically through the whole building."

"That's where we did it last time." Willow answered absentmindedly. She was holding what looked like a two-handled corkscrew to Buffy trying to divine the place where Anyanka was setting up for another attempt to retrieve her necklace.

"I still think we should have checked the burned-out factory." Buffy grumbled. She wished there was something she could do, but in matters of magic she was pretty useless. It was up to Willow to do the real work. Buffy was just along as protection. 

"Giles said he would call Angel and ask him to go and take a look, but I think Anyanka will try to harness the power from the Hellmouth for her spell. I don't think she can do the spell without that, even if Michael is helping her."

Buffy thought that through. "If she wants the power of the Hellmouth, the closer to it the better, right?"

"Which is why we worked our way outward from the library." Willow confirmed.

"But what if she isn't in the school, but under it?"

Willow spun around her eyes widening with shock. "You don't think..."

Buffy nodded. "I think we should check the Master's lair."

Willow swallowed hard. "I wish that didn't make so much sense. I really don't like those dank tunnels. All cold and slimy... just the kind of place frogs like."

"You don't have to come, Will. You can just go back and let Giles know where I'm going." Buffy offered.

For a moment Willow looked like she might take Buffy up on that. But then she shook her head. "No, you'll need someone along that knows about this spell. Giles and I went through it and he told me exactly what to do."

"OK. And I promise to slay any nasty frogs we run across." Buffy tried to cheer her friend.

Willow looked at her a little askance. "You think you will have to?"

"Relax, Will, likely all we'll run into will be a couple of vampires or the odd demon."

"Oh, good!" Willow sighed relieved, then reconsidered. "As long as it isn't a frog demon."

"I'll have to ask Giles, but I certainly never heard of any such animal." Buffy reassured her.

* * *

They had reached the Master's lair without encountering anything but a few rats that quickly scurried away at their approach. Now they stood at the lip of the tunnel looking down into the buried old church.

Two figures sat at opposite sides of a five foot circle drawn on the ground with white, sparkling sand. In the middle between them sat an ornate golden bowl glittering in the light of the candles set at equal intervals around the circle. A low chanting told Buffy that the spell had already begun. She turned to Willow. "All right, do your stuff, Will."

Willow gave her a panicked look. "I... I can't! This isn't the same spell. I have no idea what to do!"

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay. We'll just have to improvise."

With that she carefully made her way down into the church. Willow frantically yanked at Buffy's sleeve. "You can't just break into the middle of a spell! You have no idea what would happen."

"No, but I have a pretty good idea what will happen if I *don't* do something." Buffy countered, pulling herself free.

Luckily the two spell casters were too involved to notice their approach. As Buffy made her way closer she noticed a necklace dangling from Anyanka's right hand and her heart sank. Were they to late? 

The chanting voices rose in volume and the golden bowl was suddenly filled with an eerie, deep purple flame. Buffy saw Anyanka draw back her hand to toss the necklace into the flames and reacted without further thought. Two quick steps took her into the circle, her hand shot out and intercepted the necklace just before it dropped into the bowl. Buffy felt the flame licking across the back of her hand. An intense pain shot up her arm and a series of strange images flashed before her eyes. Then there was a soundless explosion of power and Buffy went sailing through the air to land in a heap in front of what remained of the altar.

"Buffy!" she heard Willow yell.

"Well, that was a big no fun." Buffy remarked as she slowly picked herself up. "Remind me not to do that again." She felt bruised all over and her head seemed several sizes to big. But when she held up her right hand to take a closer look at the necklace, her hand was unmarked by its contact with the flame.

Anyanka stood inside the circle a triumphant sneer on her face. "You're too late! The spell is complete and now that I have my powers back, I'll show you all! How dare Ms. Margle fail me in math!"

"There is just one thing you forgot" Buffy pointed out, "I am the one holding the necklace here." Then she asked after a moments thought. "What did you have in mind for Ms. Margle?"

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed scandalized. "You wouldn't..."

Buffy let out a sigh. "No, I wouldn't. But you have to admit that it's tempting."

"You think just because you hold the necklace you're safe? The Power is still mine!" Anyanka told them.

"Hey," Michael broke in, "you said this spell was going to make both of us more powerful!"

Anyanka shot him a contemptuous look. "I never said any such thing. Men always hear what they want to hear." Then she turned back to Buffy. "Will you give me my necklace or do I have to make you drop it?"

"But it goes much better with my outfit than yours." Buffy quipped.

"Not for long!" Anyanka lifted a hand and pointed it at Buffy. "Be the unclean rodent you really are!"

'Uh-oh' Buffy thought, 'not again!' She braced herself for the transformation, but to her relief nothing happened. "Gee, maybe it's broken." She quipped.

Anyanka stomped her foot and screamed: "Du saublöde Kuh! Give me my necklace, you filthy strumpet!"

"Now why should I do..." But before Buffy could finish, the necklace was ripped from her hand. Holding it close to his chest Michael disappeared into the closest tunnel. Anyanka tried to follow, but tripped over Willow's outstretched foot, landing face first in the dirt.

Buffy laid a hand on Anyanka's shoulder to keep her from running. "I think we better have a long talk about that necklace of yours before we go chasing after Michael. Willow, you better go and tell Giles what happened. Maybe he'll know what we should do now."

* * 1a * *

For the hundreds time Buffy asked herself why she had freed this vampire from his chains and agreed to let him lead her to the Master's factory. It had to be Jeeves' fault. All his talk about a better world, how she was supposed to have come to Sunnydale two years ago, and how he was supposed to have been her Watcher. And all of it because of something some ditzy high school girl had said. Jeeves had insisted that there had to be something to her story, otherwise the local vampire Master wouldn't have sent two of his most vicious disciples to have her silenced. 

But all this talk about wish-granting fairies and power centers sounded like so much gibberish to her. Wishing didn't change things. How often had she wished that she wasn't the Slayer? That that truck hadn't spun out of control and crashed into their car, killing her mom and sending Buffy into intensive care. But every time she looked into a mirror, the scar on her face reminded her of how she had watched her mom's life drain away, pinned by twisted metal, unable to do anything but scream for help. Wishing for that help to arrive in time had done nothing to save her mother's life. Wishing had not brought her father back to life, when he had been attacked by vampires, while she was out on patrol. It had not saved her first Watcher's life, or that of her second, and God only knew how long the current one would last. "Emotions are a liability" the Slayer's handbook said. She had learned that the hard way. She had trained herself not to see the people, only the demons that had to be killed. It hurt too much when the people you cared for died.

She had been ready to ignore the man chained to the wall in the basement of the Bronze until he had called her by name. She had almost fallen for his story that he had been waiting for her to come to Sunnydale, that he had been sent to help her. Some of Jeeves' naivete must have rubbed of on her. That he had turned out to be a vampire made it a more than even chance that his whole story was nothing but a trap. So why had she freed him anyway, and was now following him where he lead? It wasn't that she trusted him, Buffy told herself, or that she believed his story. Maybe it was something in his eyes. He was certainly different from any other vampire she had met. Maybe it was simply that she no longer cared. Ever since she had gotten out of the hospital after the accident there seemed to be demons and vampires everywhere. No matter how many of them she killed, there were always more. Marilyn Houser, her second Watcher had organized a team of Watchers to go out and help her with the slaying, but they were all dead now, and she refused to watch anyone else die in her stead.

As they neared the old factory building Buffy kept a sharp eye out for any possible ambush. She carried her crossbow in her left hand and had a wooden stake in her right, ready to plunge it into the back of the vampire leading her if this turned out to be a trap. But no ambush materialized. One of the windows of the factory was partially open and Buffy stepped up to it to take a look.

Across the room from her was a big wooden cage filled with frightened humans. In front of it was some strange contraption partly obscured by one of the biggest gatherings of vampires Buffy had ever seen. On a raised platform to her left was a smaller group of vampires and in their midst she saw what had to be the local vampire Master. He was so old he looked no longer really human. His hands were clawed, his head hairless, and the only color in his pasty face was a flush of red surrounding his mouth like a permanent stain of blood.

Not particularly good odds. As she stepped away from the window a sudden attack of vertigo made her stumble to her knees. The whole world seemed to reel around her. She clutched at the grass in a desperate attempt to keep some grasp on reality, to avoid passing out all together. She half expected her vampire guide to take advantage of her momentary weakness, but the only thing threatening her was a rebellious stomach. 

As soon as the worst dizziness had passed, she forced herself upright, leaning against the wall of the factory for support. She looked around, but there was no sign of her erstwhile companion. It took a moment for the absolute quiet to register as an ominous change from the noise coming from the factory before. She turned back to the window. To her confusion it was now closed. But there were several panes missing in the one next to it. A glance inside explained the quiet, but did little to lessen her confusion. The factory floor was deserted, showing no signs of the apparatus, and the wooden cage stood open and empty. How had they managed to evacuate the factory so quickly, and why? 

She was just about to turn away when a movement alerted her that the factory wasn't totally deserted after all. There was someone making his way carefully around the factory, moving noiselessly and keeping to the shadows. He had changed his clothing, but she recognized the vampire she had found chained in the basement of the Bronze. She must have been out of commission a lot longer than she had thought, but here was her chance to get some information on what was going on. She stationed herself next to the door and waited.

Buffy didn't have to wait long. She had intended to throw him against the wall beside the door and pin him there with her wooden stake held against his breast, but he surprised her with the speed of his reactions and the ease with which he broke her grip. He knocked her stake aside and sent her flying over his shoulder. Buffy quickly scrambled back to her feet and set herself for his next attack, but it never came. Instead he stopped right in front of her and simply stood, staring at her. 

"Buffy?" She raised her stake, ready to defend herself as he hesitantly reached out a hand towards her. A frown spread across his face as he pulled his hand back, but he made no move either to attack or to flee. Instead he asked in obvious confusion "What's going on?"

Buffy gave him a closer look. Like the factory there was something different about him, and it wasn't just his clothes. "That's what I would like to know." she admitted, reluctantly lowering her stake. "Where did all the other vampires disappear to?"

If anything he looked only more confused. "What other vampires?" He took a quick look around, then his intense gaze again centered on her. "Giles asked me to check and see if Anyanka was trying her spell here at the factory, but I didn't find any sign of her. Did you find her at the school?"

"Anyanka?" Buffy didn't think she had even mentioned Anyanka to him when they had spoken before. "Giles? Jeeves! When did he talk to you? How long was I out of it?"

"Jeeves? Buffy, what happened to you? Where did you get that scar?" Again he reached for her, but let his hand drop when she stepped back, wary of letting him get to close.

For several moments they simply stared at each other. Buffy had no idea what was going on any more, but she was reluctant to expose her ignorance. 

He opened and closed his mouth several times as if at a loss for words, and there was genuine concern in the soft brown eyes watching her. Finally he suggested hesitantly: "Maybe we should go back to the library and talk to Giles?"

"Lead the way." 

They made a strange pair walking down the street. Though he respected her desire to keep some distance between them, her companion kept giving her worried and preoccupied looks. As for herself, Buffy was so busy keeping a suspicious eye on him that she almost missed seeing one of the vampires she had seen earlier at the factory coming towards them.

* * * * *

Xander spotted Buffy and Angel walking down the street and changed his course to intercept them. Angel looked worried, which usually meant some big bad evil was brewing. But then Xander noticed the look of cold suspicion on Buffy's face and grinned. Looks like dead boy has done something to get Buffy upset, Xander thought happily as he sauntered up to them. 

"Hey guys, what's..." Xander got no further as Buffy suddenly grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pushed him up against the nearest wall. Eyes wide and mouth hanging open he watched a wooden stake whistling towards his chest only to stop inches in front of it as Angel's hand clamped around Buffy's wrist.

Buffy used Angel's grip as a pivot to turn and throw Xander into a row of trashcans further down the street, then she twisted her hand free and turned to deliver a hard punch to the vampire's kidneys.

Momentarily stunned, Xander watched Buffy deliver a series of rabbit punches, that Angel was just barely able to block. Pulling his wits together Xander scrambled back to his feet and looked around for a likely weapon. He spotted a rusty piece of pipe and managed to free it from the rest of the garbage. He turned back to the fight to find that Angel had managed to pin Buffy against a pillar. Both of them were breathing hard and he heard Angel gasp: " I don't want to hurt you, Buffy!" Buffy remained stock still, silently glaring up into Angel's eyes.

Xander took advantage of the stalemate to carefully walk up to them and ask: "Have gone completely psycho Buffy? What in the world did you do to her, Angel?"

"I? It isn't me that's bringing out the homicidal tendencies in the Slayers lately." Angel snapped back.

"Okay, that's a low blow." Xander answered, pointing at them with the pipe in his hand. 

Angel gave him a quick glance and Buffy took advantage of his distraction to free her right hand and stab the stake hard into Angel's chest. At the last moment Angel managed to twist enough so the stake missed his heart, but Buffy was already pushing him away to give herself room for another try. 

Angel turned the push into a turn, pulling the rusty pipe from Xander's slack grip and delivering a solid blow with it to the side of Buffy's head that sent her flying against the pillar. Even hunched over from the pain in his chest, Angel still managed to catch her on the rebound with a hard left to her chin that sent her unconscious to the ground.

"She almost staked you!" Xander blurted in disbelief. Buffy, trying to kill Angel? What was the world coming to?

"I noticed." Angel answered through gritted teeth.

"Are you all right?" Xander asked worried.

"I'll live. You need to go get Giles. Something's wrong with Buffy."

"I'll say, something's wrong. First she attacks me, and then she actually tries to kill *you*!" Xander still had problems wrapping his brain around that concept.

Angel gave him an impatient look. "We don't have time for this. Find Giles, tell him to come to the mansion. Don't tell him what happened, especially if Wesley's around. The last thing we need is another Watcher goon squad showing up with crowbars. They're not getting Buffy!"

For once Xander found himself in total agreement with Angel. "Right. You need any help?"

Angel gave him a tight smile as he picked Buffy up in his arms. "I'll manage."

Xander didn't waste any more time arguing, and took off down the street running.

* * 1b * *

Angel made it to the mansion and managed to get Buffy chained up before having to knock her out for a third time. He leaned against the wall opposite the fireplace and watched as Buffy slowly sat up and looked around. Her eyes found him, and the look of cold distrust in them hurt more than the wound in his side.

"So, in return for taking your chains off, you put some on me. Well, I should have known better than to trust a vampire!" Angel couldn't help but flinch at the way she spit that last word at him.

"Buffy, something strange is going on. I'm trying to help you." Angel told her earnestly.

"Oh, please!" Buffy snorted, "You don't seriously expect me to fall for your 'I was sent here to help you' story a second time. You blew any chance of that when you saved your *buddy* there on the street."

Angel frowned confused. "Xander and I may not be the best of friends, but I couldn't let you kill him. You would have regretted it later."

Besides, Angel thought to himself, he owed Xander for protecting Buffy from him, when she had been too sick to defend herself during his soulless time last year. He felt deeply sorry for all the horrible things he had done after he had lost his soul, and he would do his best to keep Buffy from having to face the kind of guilt he had to live with every day.

"Regret it? I'm a Vampire Slayer! Why would I regret killing him?" Buffy asked contemptuously.

"You're a Slayer, not a killer! Something happened to you, Buffy." Angel tried again, "You and Xander are friends. I don't..."

"Friends?" Buffy interrupted him, "I would never be friends with a vampire. They are worse than animals." She gave her chains a sharp tug. "If I ever thought for a moment that you might be different, I've certainly learned better by now."

Before he could think of what to say next, he heard footsteps and voices coming from the garden court. Good, Xander had found Giles. Maybe the Watcher would know what could have happened to Buffy. Straining against her chains, Buffy shot him a look of pure hate that cut through him like a knife. "So, you invited a couple of youre friends for dinner. I was wondering why I was still alive!"

Angel stared at her, comprehension slowly dawning on him. "Buffy, it's not what you think. I would never hurt you!"

"Oh, is that why you chained me up? Are you going to tell me that you never tortured anyone either? Well, guess what, you can play your little mind games with someone who doesn't know as much about vampires as I do. They might actually fall for this crap."

Xander, Giles and Willow had heard that last and stood there staring at him with various expressions of shock on their faces. Buffy's words hurt. All the more so for the truth contained in them. He had loved to torture and play games with people, but that had been before he got his soul back. 

Giles raised a hand uncertainly. "Angel? Buffy? What's going on?"

Buffy turned towards him and asked: "What are *you* doing with them? I thought you used to be a Watcher. But then, who better to help the vampires entrap a Slayer than an ex-Watcher, huh?"

Giles just stared at her speechless. 

"We are now entering the twilight zone." Xander quipped. 

But Angel thought he finally understood at least a part of Buffy's behavior. He strode over to the table, scooped up a cross that Buffy had left there on her last visit, and quickly tossed it in Xander's direction. "Heads up, Xander!"

Xander caught it out of the air and quickly turned in a circle, holding it out in front of him. Giles had pulled out a cross and stake and was doing the same. When they couldn't see any signs of attacking vampires they turned back to Angel with a questioning look.

"Give the cross to Willow." Angel instructed Xander. Still mystified, Xander complied. Once Willow held the cross, Angel turned back to Buffy and held up his right hand, showing her the red burn mark running across the palm of his hand. "I *am* one." He told her, "*They* are not."

He could see that she was shaken, but she refused to capitulate that easily. "And next you're going to tell me that you and I are friends, too, huh?" she asked contemptuously.

Angel turned away to hide his despair from the others, in his mind he heard again the words Buffy had said to him after Spike's visit to Sunnydale: 'We're not friends. We never were.'

"Wait a minute" Xander asked in disbelief, "are you saying Buffy tried to kill me because she thought I was a *vampire*?"

* * *

Buffy entered the library to tell Giles that he could stop researching Anyanka and her necklace, at least for the present, and go home and get some sleep. But the only ones there were Cordelia and Wesley. Cordelia was wearing her 'really listening' face, while Wesley was explaining something about wishes and demons. Buffy raised her eyebrows at them, causing Wesley to blush a furious red. "Uh, ah, Buffy." he managed to get out, "breaking off patrolling a little early, aren't we?"

"Well, if you want to call chasing after a totally useless necklace with a girl that can't stop whining about her bygone glory days patrolling..." Buffy shrugged. 

"I told you Anyanka was nothing but a delusional teenager. Suffering from a hormonal imbalance, no doubt." He drew himself up with a haughty sniff. "Well, you better get started with your regular patrol. Can't have you slacking off, you know."

Buffy bit back on a snide remark and asked simply: "Where's Giles?"

"Oh, he went with Xander and Willow to pay Angel a visit." Cordelia answered "Seems your demon honey ran into some kind of trouble."

"What kind of trouble? Is he all right?" Buffy wanted to know.

"How should I know?" Cordelia asked dismissively "I guess somebody tried to kill him or something. High time somebody did, if you ask me."

Buffy's hands balled into fists, but she kept them by her side. She tried to keep the threat out of her voice as she took a step closer to Cordy. "He is all right though, right?"

"Gee, get a grip!" Cordy refused to let herself be intimidated. "If he was dust, they would hardly be going to see him now would they? What else matters when you're talking about a vampire."

Buffy refused to waste any time on an answer as she made for the doors.

"Now, Buffy, you better be going on patrol," Wesley called after her, "I won't have you..."

The rest was cut off as the doors swung shut.

* * 2 * *

As Buffy walked down the steps into the garden court she could hear her friends talking inside. "...a variation on the spell Ethan cast?" Giles voice. Then Willow, her voice carrying clearly: "Maybe this is something Anyanka did to get even with Buffy? She was *real* mad when Buffy snatched the necklace out of the fire."

Anyanka had done something to Angel? Buffy scanned the room anxiously as she stepped through the doors. Her eyes found Angel. He stood apart from the others, eyes closed and head hung in defeat. Ignoring the others and the sudden silence that descended on the room, she stopped in front of him. "Angel?" she asked anxiously.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at her, his mouth slowly dropping open. He reached for her hesitantly, almost as if he expected her to vanish. When she took his hand in hers, he jerked involuntarily and she heard his sharp intake of breath. Then she noticed the red burn mark on the palm of his hand. "I'm sorry! You're hurt." Buffy tried to withdraw her hand, but he tightened his grip until it became painful. "Buffy?" he asked. 

Now the others were crowding around her as well. Willow pointed a finger at her and slowly poked her in the chest. "You're real!" she exclaimed.

"Of course I'm real, Will. Giles, what is going on here? Cordy said that somebody tried to kill Angel."

"Yep." Xander chimed in. "That would have been you."

"What??!?" 

"Well, you tried to kill both of us, " Xander amended, "but Angel is the only one that actually got staked."

Buffy gave Angel a searching look and noticed the stain of blood on his shirt, which had been half hidden by his jacket. Her eyes flew back up to his face, "Are you all right?" -- "I'll be fine." He reassured her with a smile.

Willow added reassuringly: " And it wasn't you you, it was the other you."

"The other me?" Buffy echoed confused. The others turned and looked towards the fireplace. Buffy found herself staring wide-eyed at ...herself.

Buffy took a hesitant step closer, then stopped. "Two of me?" she whispered shocked. 

"Look on the bright side," Willow suggested helpfully, "at least your other you isn't a blood-sucking fiend, ... as far as we know." She turned to Angel and asked worriedly: "She isn't, is she?"

Angel gave her a half smile. "No, I'm pretty sure she is a Slayer, like Buffy."

"Oh, good!" Willow nodded.

"Anyanka's spell." Buffy thought out loud, "But why another me, not another Michael? He was the one helping with the spell!"

"Yes," Willow answered, "but he wasn't the one that stepped into the circle and stuck his hand into the flame."

Giles looked at Buffy aghast. "You stepped into the middle of a spell? Good Lord!"

"I was just trying to catch the necklace before it could land in the fire." Buffy explained defensively.

"Yes, um... the necklace." Giles ran a hand through his hair. "What happened with that. Willow told us that Michael ran off with it, and that you and Anyanka went after him."

Buffy shrugged. "We found him. The necklace still doesn't work. Anyanka was not happy. I didn't understand all the words she used, but none of them sounded very nice. The spell was a bust." Then she turned and frowned at the other Buffy still chained next to the fireplace. "Except maybe it wasn't. ... Why am I chained up?"

"Apparently she attacked Xander on sight, and when Angel intervened, she tried to stake him." Giles explained almost apologetic. 

"She thought that Xander was a vampire." Angel came to the other Buffy's defense. "And I *am* one, after all."

"Well, Xander isn't a vampire, so there is no need to stake him." Buffy told her twin self firmly. 

"And don't stake Angel." Willow added confidentially, "Buffy tends to get really cranky when anybody does that."

Wordlessly Angel handed the key to Buffy, who went over and unlocked the chains. "You won't, will you?" Buffy couldn't prevent a note of threat creeping into her voice. 

Xander was the first to break the awkward silence that followed.

"So, now we have three Slayers. This club gets less exclusive all the time."

The other Buffy spoke for the first time. "Three Slayers?" 

Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. "Long story." -- "Buffy died" Willow explained helpfully. 

"Only a little!" Buffy said defensively. "Angel and Xander brought me back." 

"Actually, it was Xander," Angel corrected, "vampires can't do CPR." -- "But I never would have found her in time without you." Xander allowed magnanimously. 

"Sorry to interrupt your mutual admiration committee," Giles broke in, "but what do we do now?"

"Well, I still have to patrol. Wesley was very insistent on that." Buffy answered. 

"Wesley? Wesley Windham-Pryce?" the other Buffy asked. "That punk!" 

"Punk?" Xander mused, "Dork, maybe, but punk? I don't see it." 

Giles tried to recapture their attention. "Yes, but, Buffy, what are we going to do about ... ah, ... Buffy?" --"She can sleep over at my house tonight." Willow offered helpfully. "That is, if you want to, Buffy. I mean the other... This is really confusing... How do we know which, ... I mean..."

"Yeah, " Xander agreed, "it will be hard enough to explain where you suddenly got a twin sister, Buffy. But same name, too?" he shook his head.

Buffy turned to her double and offered: "How about Anne. I used that last summer after..."

When she broke off Xander continued helpfully: "After she ran away, and left the slaying..." Willow elbowed him in the ribs and interrupted him hurriedly. "That's a nice name, Anne. How did you come up with it?" 

"It's my middle name." both Buffys answered almost at the same time, then looked at each other and smiled.

The other Buffy shrugged. "Anne is fine."

"Good," Buffy said, "Angel, do you have a first aid kit? We need to bandage that hole in your side." Angel nodded. "I'll get it."

"So, Anne, you want to stay at my house tonight?" Willow asked again.

"I don't sleep nights. Nights are for killing." Anne answered.

"And dancing. Let's not forget dancing! I'll be more than happy to show you our local club." Xander offered. "How about it? You and me? Could be fun!"

Anne just looked at him as if had grown a second head.

"You can patrol with me." Buffy was busy cleaning and bandaging Angel's side.

"Good idea" Giles seconded. "It is probably best if you stay close to Buffy, ah... Anne. It'll give you a chance to get acquainted. This has to be terribly strange for you. In the meantime, it is getting rather late. Willow, Xander, I can give you a ride home. We'll all meet again tomorrow."

Buffy closed up the first aid kit. "I better get going, too. You ready, Anne?"

In answer Anne pulled out a wooden stake. "Always."

* * * * *

Anne walked next to Buffy through a night of surreal quiet. No screaming, no vampires, not even a single demon in sight anywhere. It was downright unnerving. "Is it always this quiet?" she finally asked just to break the silence.

"Not always." Buffy answered, "What's it like where you come from?" 

"It's certainly never this quiet." Anne shrugged. "Most places, the demons keep a low profile and people can refuse to see what's happening. Other places the vampires and demons have openly taken over. People there either form their own demon killing squads or keep their heads low and hope they won't get eaten tonight. Some actually work with the demons, like the late President."

Buffy gave her a shocked look. "Wow. How did it get so bad?"

"Started about two years ago, shortly after my first Watcher died." Anne didn't want to get into that so she continued quickly: "Somebody must have opened a gate to a demon dimension somewhere, and kept it open long enough for a whole bunch of them to cross."

Buffy gave her a thoughtful look. "How long have you been in Sunnydale? Your Sunnydale."

"Got there yesterday afternoon. My Watcher got a call from Giles. Wesley wanted me to go to Cleveland, so of course I went to Sunnydale." Anne gave Buffy a tight half smile.

"So, ... you weren't here for the Harvest. That was about two years ago, just after I moved here. The Master was trying to free himself and open the Hellmouth. I guess since you weren't there to stop it, in your world the Master rose." Buffy said slowly.

Anne gave a strange look. "That's what your vampire friend said when I found him chained up in the Bronze."

"They had Angel chained up?"

Anne looked over at Buffy and wondered at the fire in her eyes. "You really *care* for a *vampire*?"

In disbelief Anne watched as Buffy actually blushed as she answered: "Angel is ... different. He got his soul back, so now he is one of the good guys."

"So he was telling the truth when he said he would help me fight the Master." Anne mused.

"You were going to fight the Master?" 

"We had just arrived at his factory when everything went crazy. The next thing I knew I was here." Anne said.

"Maybe just as well, " Buffy suggested, "the Master was pretty hard to kill. He was the one that killed me. But I killed him twice! Well, sort of."

Anne listened as Buffy told her briefly what had happened to her since coming to Sunnydale. When she came to the part where a group of vampires had invaded the school on parent-teacher night, and how her mom had actually hit a vampire attacking her daughter with an ax, Anne broke in hesitantly: "Your ... mom? She ... she's still alive?"

Buffy looked back at her. "Yeah. Yours isn't?" Anne just shook her head. 

"What happened?" Buffy asked softly. 

Anne didn't want to remember, but disconnected flashes of memory escaped through the wall she had built up inside her. The pain in her legs, pinned by twisted metal. Her mother's pale face turned towards her, her eyes staring at her through a curtain of blood drenched hair. Her own voice, high and shrill, "Don't die, mom, please, don't die! Somebody, HELP!"

With an effort she pushed the memories away and took a deep breath.

"She died." her voice sounded dull and far away in her own ears.

There was a long silence. Finally Buffy said softly: "I'm sorry."

Anne shrugged, uncomfortable with the sympathy in Buffy's voice. "Life goes on. There is always another demon that needs killing." 

"I guess." Buffy looked around: "We might as well head home. It's quiet tonight."

Anne thought about meeting Buffy's mom, and shook her head. "I don't think that's such a good idea. How are you going to explain me to your mom?"

"Good point. But, where else are you going to stay?"

"There has to be a motel somewhere." Anne shrugged. 

"I have a better idea." Buffy countered. "Angel has plenty of room; you can stay there. I'm sure he won't mind. Just ... promise me you won't stake him again."

Buffy expected her to sleep in the same house with a vampire? She looked at her other self, dressed more for a date than to go out slaying, and wondered if she had ever been that open and trusting. And this unnervingly quiet town... All of a sudden, it was all too much to deal with. She shook herself and realized that Buffy was still waiting for an answer. "Why not?" she shrugged, " As long as he leaves me alone..."

* * 3 * *

She woke slowly, and more refreshed than she had felt in a long time. Automatically she turned to check the time. There was no alarm clock on the bedside table. Late afternoon sun slanted through the drawn curtains of a strange room. Slowly memory caught up with her. Anne. Her name was Anne now. Still the Slayer, but suddenly no longer the only one. And in a world with strangely few demons. No massacre or other catastrophe that had to be averted in the next few hours. She felt strangely adrift without an immediate task that had to be accomplished. For the first time she had time to think, to feel. Something she had avoided in the weeks since her Watcher Marylin's death. Wesley had been very impressed with her dedication to duty, and going from fight to fight had kept her too tired and busy to think. Hurriedly she threw back the covers and slipped into her clothes. There had to be something here that needed to be done, that would keep the memories at bay. As she left her room, she heard a knock echoing somewhere in the house, then the sound of a door opening. Voices. The first belonged to the boy she had mistaken for a vampire. "Hey, man, how you're doing. Mind if I come in?"

"Be my guest." The voice of her vampire host, what was his name again?

"The others should be along soon. Giles wanted to meet here instead of the library. So, is Anne up yet?" Xander again.

Then her own voice, Buffy's voice: "Hi, guys, Giles here yet? I was going to work out a little before he got here." Then as she saw Anne coming into the room. "Hi, Anne, sleep good?"

"You want to work out against me?" Anne asked. Training was almost as good as fighting when it came to getting your mind of things. 

"Yeah, sure." Buffy answered a little taken aback by her abruptness. Unlike the night before, Buffy was actually dressed in something sensible, though still much too bright for Anne's tastes. Bright colors attracted vampires. Not a good idea for a Slayer to advertise her presence to the enemy. Anne had learned the hard way that it was much better to wear the drab colors that allowed you to blend into the background.

At first they were careful with their punches and blocks, feeling each other out. Anne had to admit that for all her unprofessional appearance, Buffy did know how to fight. But the sparkle of enjoyment in her eyes reminded her of a time when she herself had still thought that there was more to life then demons and death. It brought back carefully buried memories of Ian, the young Watcher's apprentice, who had been part of the support team her second Watcher had assembled to help her in her nightly slaying. Memories of all the glorious times they had spent together, studying, training and fighting side by side. His eyes had held that same sparkle and optimism. Until the day he had thrown himself between her and the poisonous stinger of a Scara-demon. Her punches started coming faster and faster as she tried to fight off the memory of him writhing in her arms as the poison slowly burned that unquenchable optimism out of his bright eyes.

"Buffy!" The sound of a shocked voice tore through her preoccupation and pulled her back to the present just as Ian's last pained whisper of 'I love you' echoed through her mind. She froze, staring at the mirror image of her own face, sweat-streaked, the laughter replaced by fierce concentration. She looked around into a row of shocked faces; and one that did not hold shock, but a mixture of concern, pity and understanding. 

The door to the garden behind Giles and Willow stood open and without any further thought, Anne took off running. She had to get away. Away from the memories and away from those soft brown eyes that looked at her with so much pity and understanding, as if they could see all the way down into her soul.

* * * * *

Taking a deep breath Buffy watched Anne run up the steps of the garden court and disappear up into the hills.

"Ah, Buffy?" Giles asked, his voice tentative, "What were you doing?"

Buffy gratefully accepted the towel Angel handed her and wiped the sweat from her face. "We were working out. What did you think we were doing?"

"Yeah, right." Xander added sarcastically, "And it was such a mild work out that Anne decided to go for a run afterwards just to get her circulation going."

"I better go after her." Buffy decided.

"What, so she can give you a real workout?" Xander wanted to know.

"This is not good, Buffy." Willow worried, "First Faith and now..."

"She's not like Faith!" Buffy interrupted her. "You have no idea what she's been through."

"Did she tell you about it?" Giles wanted to know.

Buffy thought back to last night and the expression on Anne's face when she had told Buffy that her own mother was dead. Her eyes had been so bleak and hopeless. "I think she has had to watch too many of the people she loved die. Two Watchers, ... her mother. Sunnydale is a peaceful vacation spot compared to where she comes from." She looked up into Angel's eyes. "She wasn't there to stop the Harvest. The Master rose and brought a whole lot of company."

"Good Lord." Giles whispered appalled. "It's a wonder there is *anything* left of her world."

Willow's eyes were huge. "Wow. If Angel hadn't warned you about the Harvest..."

Buffy laid a reassuring hand on Willow's arm. "But he did, and we stopped it."

Willow gave Buffy a shaky smile and nodded. Buffy turned to go after Anne, but Giles held her back. "Buffy, it might be better if you don't take her along on patrol again. She may not be another Faith, but I don't think she is ... is entirely stable. The way she was laying into you..."

Buffy gave him a wry smile. "Kind of reminds you of the way I was after the Master killed me."

"Exactly." Giles agreed, "She obviously has ... has a lot of ... of issues she needs to work out."

"We'll just have to help her deal." Buffy told him.

"Yes. Well. Just be careful, will you?" Giles admonished her.

Buffy looked out through the garden doors. "If anyone would be able to understand her it's me. She *is* me, if different things would have happened to me. If I would never have met any of you guys." Again her eyes sought Angel's, trying to draw comfort from his steady presence. "I better get going."

* * *

She found Anne sitting with her back against a rock, arms wrapped around her knees, looking out over Sunnydale. There were tracks on her cheeks, but Buffy wasn't sure if they were from sweat or tears. She certainly wasn't crying now. Her face was devoid of any expression and the flat dead look in her eyes sent a shiver down Buffy's back. She took a hesitant step closer. "Are you all right?"

She was glad to see some semblance of life return to her eyes, as Anne looked up and asked: "I almost beat you to a pulp, and you ask me if *I'm* all right?"

"Well, you didn't. Beat me to a pulp, that is. You did give me a pretty good workout though." 

The joke sounded flat even in her own ears, so Buffy tried again. "Are you all right? You ran off pretty sudden."

Anne refused to meet Buffy's eyes as she answered flippantly: "Going for a run is a good way to round out a training session."

"Yeah, it helps to get your circulation going." Buffy answered thinking of Xander's remark. She was rewarded by a short laugh.

"You're so different. And your world, it's so bright and ... orderly." Anne made a sweeping gesture to include the town below them. "There are all these colors, it's ... like they don't even care what's lurking in the dark."

"Most of them don't know anything *is* lurking in the dark. That's sort of my job, to keep it that way."

Buffy thought how lucky she had been in her life, even with all the bad things that had happened to her. Looking at Anne, she suddenly had to admit that it could have been a lot worse. She wondered if she could have handled the life that Anne must have been leading for the last two years. Then she smiled. Anne was her after all. If she had been able to cope, that meant Buffy would have, too.

Finally Anne stood up and said: "I think we better get back. If Giles was anything like my Watcher, he'd be here already wanting to know what was going on. I think you're lucky to have him instead of Wesley."

"Actually Giles isn't my Watcher anymore, he got fired a couple of weeks ago."

Anne stared down at her. "They fired your Watcher? Why?"

Buffy wondered what to tell her, when something occurred to her. "Are you 18 yet?"

Anne shook her head. "Three more weeks till my birthday, if I live that long. Why?"

Buffy took a deep breath to ease the knot in her stomach as she thought back on her own 18th birthday. "Have they set you to studying the properties of vibratious crystals yet?"

"No, but that is in the next section of the Slayer's Handbook."

"You got a handbook? How come *everyone* else gets one?" Buffy groused. "Well, if your Watcher wants you stare into a crystal, especially if it's a big blue one: don't!" She got up and brushed off the seat of her pants. "Come on, I'll tell you about it while we walk back."

* * 4 * *

Joyce Summers looked up from the list of new acquisitions for her gallery that she was going over to see her daughter come in through the front door. "Hi, honey, you're home early. Done training for the day?" She could tell by the look on Buffy's face that there was something troubling her. In the past she would have suspected boy trouble, but with a Slayer for a daughter is was rarely that simple. 

"Mom, we have to talk." Buffy stopped in front of her mom and ran her hands over her hips the way she did when she was nervous or unsure of herself.

Joyce's heart sank. "Sure, honey, what is it?"

"This is going to sound a little crazy, but..." Buffy trailed off uncertainly.

"Crazier than demons, witches and Hellmouths, you mean?"

Buffy gave her a weak smile. "You got a point. It's a bit complicated. There is this girl at school who claims that she used to be a demon or a fairy or something. She's been trying to get her powers back by conjuring some necklace from a parallel world into ours."

Joyce blinked and clamped down on her automatic disbelief. She had promised herself to never again make the mistake that had driven her daughter into running away last summer, and dismiss something she told her out of hand, just because it sounded incredible. 

It was hard at times, but she was doing her best to adjust to her daughter's calling, and be supportive of it. She wanted to be a part of her daughter's life. Wanted her to be able to come to her with any problems she might have, be they supernatural or of the normal teenage variety.

When she remained quiet, Buffy continued hesitantly. "When I stopped her latest try, something went wrong with the spell, and now there are two of me."

"Two of you? You mean she split you in half?" Joyce asked stunned.

"Not exactly. This is like a different Buffy from a different world. One where we never moved here."

From Buffy's look, she could tell that there was more to it than that. "And?" she prodded.

"Well, from what she told me, her world is very different from ours. She's really had it tough being the Slayer there. She seems so ... burned out, ... defeated, hopeless. I thought, maybe we could do something to show her that life is still worth living. Maybe take her to an ice-show, or a park or something?"

"Well, the Gallery will be closed for another three days while we arrange the new pieces." Joyce forced herself to deal with the practical side of things to avoid thinking of the deeper implications. "I don't have to be there. Walter can handle it without me."

She was rewarded by a warm smile from her daughter. "You're the best, mom."

Joyce smiled in return. It had been so much easier when she had still been ignorant, but it was moments like these that made it all worth while.

"I thought we could invite her to stay with us, tell people she is a cousin or something." Buffy said, "She is staying at Angel's right now. Oh, and we decided to call her Anne to avoid confusion."

"Why don't we drive over and get her?" Joyce suggested. Angel. There was another part of her daughter's life she had trouble adjusting to.

She was a bit surprised when they stopped in front of a house on the outskirts of town that looked more like a mansion. Somehow she had always assumed that Angel lived underground somewhere, since sunlight would burn a vampire. She still had trouble with the simple fact that her daughter, the Vampire Slayer, actually had a vampire for a boyfriend. Though when Angel opened the door to let them in, she had to admit that it was not hard to understand why Buffy had fallen for him. He was certainly good looking. 

She saw the way they smiled into each other's eyes in greeting and sighed inwardly. She wanted her daughter to be happy, but she just couldn't see how this relationship could ever work.

"Where's Anne?" Buffy asked.

"Out in the court reading." Angel gestured to a set of doors barely visible at the other end of the next room. The inside of the house was light and airy, not dark and gloomy like she had expected. Joyce wondered at the big windows and the delicate works of art scattered around the mansion. Her trained eye recognized several as extremely valuable. Not for the first time she had to adjust her view of her daughter's unconventional boyfriend. 

As he led them into the adjoining hall, she noticed that he carefully skirted around the sunlight streaming in through the skylight as well as several other windows and shook her head. Less than a year ago she had thought of vampires as nothing but fairy tales. Now she was visiting one in his own home.

"There is one more thing, mom. Anne's mother, you know, the other me's mother? It seems that she died some time ago. So, she might be a bit..." Buffy trailed off uncertainly.

Joyce raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Let me guess. She has no idea that I am coming?"

Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. "She tries so hard not to feel anything. Giles tried to get her to open up just a little. I've tried. But she just shuts us all out. I thought maybe..."

Joyce gave her a long hard look. Then she smiled. "I can't promise anything. But I'll *try* to treat her as if she were you." 

Buffy smiled back at her with relief. "Thanks, mom." Buffy led the way out into the sunny courtyard, while Angel stayed behind in the shadows of the house.

Joyce had meant what she had told Buffy, even though she thought that it would be difficult to treat this stranger as her own daughter. But as soon as she took one look at her, her heart went out to her. She looked so much like Buffy, and she looked so lost and lonely. Anne looked up from her book as they neared and Joyce saw her eyes widen. She felt tears well up in her own as she wordlessly opened her arms. Anne lurched to her feet with an inarticulate "Mom?" and stumbled towards her. Joyce rocked her softly as she cried herself out against her shoulder in wracking sobs that shuddered through her whole body.

* * * * *

Anne stood on a hill overlooking Sunnydale watching the sun rise and paint a world of shades of gray with color. It was the way she herself felt. Over the last four days since she had been pulled into this reality, her own world and heart had slowly thawed and started to fill with color. She took a deep breath of the soft morning air. For the first time in years she felt alive again and ready to get on with her life. Last night she had talked to Giles and the others and they had reluctantly agreed to send her back to her own world, where she was needed. The only thing left was to break the news to her ... to Buffy's mom.

She found her in the kitchen reading the morning paper over a cup of coffee. Anne still felt a sense of wonder every time she looked at her. It wasn't her mom, but it could have been. Knowing that her mother would have been able to accept her being the Slayer and love and support her in spite of it, meant more to her than she would have believed. She had hated not being able to tell her own mother the truth.

"Morning, mom." Anne greeted her.

"Morning, honey, there's hot chocolate on the stove and waffles in the microwave." Buffy's mom had insisted that she call her mom as well.

Anne got herself a cup of hot chocolate and sat down.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to get started: "We need to talk, mom."

Joyce folded the newspaper and looked over at her. "From the tone of your voice, I am guessing that it is about Slayer business."

Anne shrugged uncomfortably. "Yes, and no." She took a sip from her cup to calm the butterflies in her stomach. "The thing is, this is not *my* world. There are two Slayers here already; there is no need for a third one. But my world ... it desperately needs a Slayer. It's my responsibility, and I just feel like I am skipping out on it..."

Joyce laid a reassuring hand on her wrist and interrupted her. "And you feel that you have to go back to do your job. I understand."

"You do?" Anne swallowed almost in disappointment at how easily Buffy's mom had accepted the idea, but her next words eased the unacknowledged hurt in her heart. 

"I can't say that I am happy with your decision. You are as much my daughter as Buffy is. But I had a feeling that you would want to go back, that your own sense of responsibility wouldn't let you stay here. Your sense of duty is as strong as Buffy's it seems. When are you leaving?"

Anne swallowed a lump in her throat. "Tonight." 

"Honey, are you *sure* you want to do this?" Joyce asked despite her earlier words, covering one of Anne's hands with her own.

Anne nodded. "I am. I know there is a chance that my world will cease to exist when our Giles destroys Anyanka's necklace, but what if it doesn't? I can't stay here, wondering if I am leaving my own world unprotected."

"I promised myself that I wouldn't interfere with Buffy's Slayer duties, or yours, but I will miss you. We all will." The look in her eye told Anne that she really meant it. 

How long since anyone had truly cared for her in that way? How long since she had allowed herself to care for someone? And she did care for them, she admitted to herself. She was going to miss them, when she returned to the real world. Her time here had been like a dream, a vacation from reality. But all dreams came to an end.

* * 5 * *

Anne staggered and fell to all fours, clutching at the grass, gulping air in an effort to settle her stomach. Her eyes were blurry and her head was spinning. A worried voice penetrated the roaring in her ears.

"Buffy? Miss Summers? Are you all right?" Angel's voice. And if he was calling her Buffy she was back in her own world. She took another deep breath and looked up at him. He was crouched only a few feet away from her, his eyes wide and one hand stretched out towards her uncertainly. She looked down at her leather-clad arms and grinned. She wondered what *she* would think if she saw someone disappear in front of her eyes, only to reappear dressed in an oversized leather duster and burdened with an assortment of bags and weapons. She took his hand and let him help her up. "How long was I gone?"

Angel gave her a worried look. "You weren't, you just ... changed ...and fell down." 

She thought a moment about how much she should tell him. Then shrugged. "It seems I got pulled into a parallel world." She saw the look of incomprehension in his eyes and continued. "It's a long story. Let's just say that I was gone for almost five days and met some people, and they gave me all this stuff." She shrugged out of her burdens and took off her coat. "Before I forget, they made me promise to give you a message. That curse you're under has a rather nasty escape clause. If you are ever truly happy and content you'll lose your soul again. Here put this on and button it up." She said, handing him the coat. 

She disentangled the rest of the bags and hid one behind some bushes. It held the presents Buffy and the others had given her to remind her of them and their world of color and sunshine. If she survived this she would come back for it later. When she turned back she found Angel standing motionless, a stunned expression on his face, the coat still held in one hand. She laid a hand on his arm and he blinked. "Time to deal with that later. Put on the coat. It should give you some protection from the holy water."

He shook his head and complied. "Holy water?"

"It'll be your job to get those people out of the cage while I distract the vampires. We thought it might even the odds a little if they had something to defend themselves with." She lifted two bags. "Holy water bottles for them to throw and crosses." Next she pulled a little bag on a string out of her pocket and handed that to him as well. "Put that around your neck."

He took it and looked at it questioningly. "Smells like mint."

"It's a personal protection spell for you from a friend." Buffy told him. "I'll explain later. Right now we better get in there before they start up the Master's factory."

* * * * *

Angel snaked his way through the waiting vampires towards the door of the cage. The leather coat chafed against the burns on his chest. And where had Buffy gotten a coat that fit him so perfectly, as well as all the other things? He pushed the question aside and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He had almost reached the cage when he heard the crossbow snap. He looked up at the podium and watched the Master grab Xander and use him as a shield. The bolt lodged high in Xander's right shoulder right over where the Master's heart would have been. There was a moment's stunned silence then absolute pandemonium ensued. Angel took advantage of the distraction to open the cage. He spilled the bag of crosses onto the floor. "Grab one of those and get out!"

He didn't wait to see if they followed his instructions but turned and set the bag of holy water bottles on top of the stopped conveyer belt. Picking up bottle after bottle, he began hurling them into the knot of fighting vampires in the middle of the factory. The holy water grenades proved devastatingly effective. Soon there were vampires pushing through the humans at the exit in their hurry to get out of the factory.

Then someone grabbed him from behind and sent him flying through the air. He heard the slats splinter as he impacted with the cage. Felt something stab him in the back as he landed hard on the floor inside the cage. He tried to ignore the pain as he pulled out the piece of wood protruding from his lower back. With it in his hand he turned to face his attacker. 

Willow stood in front of him, wearing a smile that chilled him to the bone. "Puppy wanna play?" The look of gleeful anticipation froze him in his tracks. It reminded him of all the times during the last two years that she had come into his cage to play with her 'puppy.'

Forgotten was the piece of wood in his hand and the battle raging around them. Fear twisted his gut as Willow slowly advanced on him, her smile growing with every step. He inched backwards until his back came up against the wall. "Puppy's being bad." Willow purred as she stretched a hand down to grab his neck. Angel silently screamed at himself that he was no longer chained, that he was free, that he could fight back, but her eyes kept him pinned to the floor. Helpless, like a mouse trapped by a snake.

Suddenly a bottle of holy water crashed against the side of Willow's face. Drops of it landed on Angel's hands and the burning pain finally broke his trance. He forced himself up and swung the piece of wood in his hand towards Willow's chest. But even with one side of her face a mass of smoking burns, Willow managed to block his thrust and backhand him into the wall. Darkness threatened to pull him under, and by the time he fought his way back to clear consciousness Willow was halfway out the door.

Taking a deep breath he looked around for Buffy. 

He found her just in front of the podium battling Xander, while the Master made his way down the steps behind her. A warning on his lips, he crossed the floor of the factory and hurled himself at the Master, just as he was reaching for Buffy's neck from behind. He managed to jam his piece of wood into the Master's back, but it was not enough. In the next moment his feet were dangling a foot above the ground, the Master's left hand clutching his throat in an iron grip. Desperately he clawed at the Master's hand, but was unable to break his hold. 

"You again!" The Master said, almost conversationally. "I think you will regret this even more than your interference with the Harvest. It seems you need to be taught another lesson."

Angel saw a youth with blond hair rushing up behind the Master another broken slat from the cage in his hand. 

"I guess I'm just a slow learner," he gasped, trying to distract the Master. "Or maybe you are not a very good teacher," Angel taunted. 

It worked a little too good as far as Angel was concerned. The Master's fist drove several times into his stomach then connected hard with the side of his head. Through the roaring in his ears and the clouding of his vision he saw the youth plunge his piece of wood into the Master's back next to Angel's, just as another stake whistled by Angel's side and buried itself in the Master's chest. The Master's scream followed him down into sweet oblivion.

* * *

Despite his best efforts to stay under, his mind slowly drifted up towards the pain that had so often greeted his return to consciousness for the past two years. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and stared in wonder at a wrist bare of chains. Memory returned. He had been freed by ... Buffy. 

He must have said that last out loud, because he heard her answer. "Here. Can you stand?" He took a deep breath and pushed himself up off the floor. Strong hands took a hold of him and helped him to his feet. He found himself swaying, staring down at a skeleton on the floor in front of him. 

"The Master?" he asked hoping against hope. 

"Yeah, that's him. I don't think he'll get much use out of his factory. Neither will anybody else, once I get through with it." She helped him over to the side of the factory. "I better make sure he is good and dead. No reason to repeat other people's mistakes." With that she went to pick up a big pipe wrench and proceeded to smash the Master's skeleton into a million pieces.

Angel felt his knees giving way and let himself slide down the wall. He hurt everywhere and he hadn't eaten more than the occasional rat in weeks. Now that the immediate danger was over, he could no longer ignore the sweet smell of fresh human blood that hung over the factory. He closed his eyes and rested his head against his knees. 

The ever-present hunger rose and threatened to overwhelm him. But over the last two years he had gotten a lot of practice fighting it. It had been a constant point of amusement to the other vampires that he refused to feed off a living human being. Willow especially had delighted in leaving him alone with some of her only partly drained victims. Often it had taken all he had to wait until the person had died of blood loss or shock before sinking his own teeth into them. 

He clenched his fists in an effort to retain some control over his hunger as the blood smell intensified to an almost unbearable level. He was concentrating so hard, he banged his head into the wall behind him when he suddenly felt a hand gently shaking his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and he found himself staring into Buffy's face just inches away from his own. 

Her left hand rested on his shoulder, her right held a long stemmed wineglass filled with human blood.

"Wake up. I brought you something to eat. You need to heal, and she's already dead. You can't hurt her anymore. At least this way her death won't have been a complete waste."

He reached for it slowly, careful not to spill a single drop. 

He was grateful to her when she got up and left him to feed in private. He closed his eyes and forced himself to drain the glass slowly, instead of gulping it down greedily.

When he opened his eyes again the blond youth that had attacked the Master was squatting only a few feet away, watching him. To his surprise there was neither hatred nor disgust in the look he gave him. "Hi, I'm Oz. I wanted to thank you for getting us out of that cage."

Angel wasn't sure what to say, so he simply nodded.

"You and the Slayer make a good team." Oz continued, then he reached out his hand. "Here, let me get you a refill. You look in pretty bad shape." 

Stunned by his easy acceptance Angel let him take the glass from his hands and watched him walk over to the Master's machine to refill it.

* * 6 * *

Rupert Giles sat on the floor with his back against the wall and looked around his cluttered living room. Nothing had changed. Anyanka had disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving him with a myriad of after-images and a pounding headache, but otherwise everything was the same.

He took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. He was a fool. Nothing was ever that easy. Ms. Summers was right. Wishing didn't change things. Neither had destroying Anyanka's necklace. 

He had come to Sunnydale to await the arrival of the Slayer and take up his duties as her Watcher. Instead he had been approached one evening by a strange man, who had warned him about something called the Harvest. A man, whose knowledge of the Watchers and the current Slayer had set off all the warning bells in his head. When that same man had turned out to be a vampire, Giles had congratulated himself on spotting and avoiding a clever trap. Why would any vampire ever come to a Watcher, or any human for that matter, for help? That had been his first mistake, and to this day he still wondered if he could have averted the chaos and destruction unleashed by the Harvest, if only he had acted sooner.

He had researched this so-called Harvest anyway, just to be safe, and much to his dismay, he had found it to be a very real threat. A call to warn the Council and to get the Slayer to Sunnydale in time to stop it yielded the information that she had just barely survived a car crash, which had killed her mother outright, and was still in intensive care. He insisted that the Harvest was a grave threat and that he needed all available help to try and stop it. He was asked how he had found out that the vampires of Sunnydale were planning to hold this ritual, and why they would do so. When he had been forced to reveal that the warning had come from a vampire, he had been called gullible and alarmist, as well as several less flattering terms, and his corroborating research had been dismissed out of hand. Giles response had been less then diplomatic. 

To this day he wasn't sure if he had quit or been fired.

He had gone to the Bronze to do what he could to stop the Harvest. He had found a door that had been kicked in from the outside and a knot of fighting vampires on the stage usually reserved for what passed for a band these days. He had taken advantage of the distraction to get as many people out as possible, but had to watch helplessly as the vampire acting as the vessel had disappeared in a shower of light signaling the completion of the Harvest.

The two years that followed had been one continuous nightmare, so when Cordelia Chase had suggested that there was a chance to not only end it, but to actually undo it, he had been more than willing to take it. He had clung to the hope that there was a way to start over, to erase his mistakes, and the countless deaths that had followed, no matter how slim.

With a sigh he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Not only had he failed to change his world for the better, he might unwittingly have changed it for the worse. It was his call that had drawn the Slayer to Sunnydale, and she was even now going up against the Master, alone. She had to be either very good, or very lucky, or both, to have survived the last two years, but going up against one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in his own lair, surrounded by his followers, struck him as suicidal. He didn't want to be responsible for the Slayer's death, however indirectly.

His thoughts returned to Anyanka and he forced himself back to his feet. Maybe there was something he had overlooked in one of his books. 

"Where is she?" a haughty voice cut through his preoccupation.

"There was a flash of light and she disappeared." Giles answered absentmindedly, still focused on the events of the last hour.

"What?!?" 

Giles looked up form his book and found a stranger clad in black jeans and a black leather jacket, decorated with a multitude of tarnished silver crosses, surveying him with a shocked expression through wire-rimmed glasses. 

Giles snapped back to the present and closed the book he had been holding. "Who, the hell, are you," he wanted to know, "and what are you doing in my house?"

The other man drew himself up to his full height and answered as if it was supposed to mean something to him: "I am Wesley Windham-Pryce, and I want to know how you managed to lure her away from her duties, and where she is now."

Giles frowned. "I have no idea. Destroying her power center should have rendered her powerless not make her disappear..."

"Destroying...? What did you do?" Wesley interrupted him, getting more and more upset.

"Well, I smashed her necklace." Giles explained. "But the world didn't change!"

Wesley pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose with one finger. "You smashed her necklace and thought that would change the world? Are you out of your mind!?! No wonder they threw you out of the Watchers!"

Giles mouth dropped open in surprise. "How did you know I..."

Wesley gave an impatient snort. "I have heard all about you from Quentin Travers."

"Quentin..." Understanding dawned. "You are talking about Ms. Summers!"

"Of course. Who else would I be talking about?" Wesley wanted to know.

"Anyanka, the patron saint of scorned women." Before he could say more, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Excuse me."

Giles told Wesley as he went to open it. Amy and Owen burst into the room, looking scared. "They got Oz and Larry." 

"Who?" he asked, though he was afraid he already knew.

"The Master's goon squad. They are rounding up as many people as they can get their hands on. They almost got us, too. What are we going to do?"

First Nancy, now Oz and Larry. Despair threatened to overwhelm him. Was there even a point to fighting any longer? It was so tempting to just give up; he was so tired of fighting, of losing friend after friend. He opened his mouth to tell them that there was nothing they could do, and the words died on his lips. Owen and Amy looked at him, scared, but sure that he would know what to do. "Do you have any idea why or where they were taken?" he heard himself asking instead.

Wesley came up next to him and asked: "Who is this Master?"

"Supreme vampire around these parts." Giles answered. "The Slayer went to the Bronze to fight him."

"He's not there. We went by the Bronze on our way here, and it was deserted." Owen broke in.

"Then where *is* the Slayer?" Wesley wanted to know.

* * * * *

Buffy looked back at the people still following her. The number of humans was now reduced to just Oz, Larry and Sandy, all the others having peeled off in groups as they got close to their own homes. Then there was the vampire.

Buffy was wondering what she should do about Angel as they neared Giles' house. He had been instrumental to the success of the raid on the Master's factory, fighting quite effectively in spite of his depleted condition. And comparing the way he moved to the way she had seen the Angel of the other Sunnydale move gave her a pretty good idea just how hurt and weak he was, though he hadn't said one word about it. He seemed not to expect anything in return for his help, but she felt responsible for him nevertheless. In his current condition he wouldn't stand a chance if he encountered any other vampires, and they were unlikely to let him live after he had sided with the humans against the Master. Sunrise was in less than two hours and she would need to find a safe place for him to spend the day. They had passed by his old apartment and found it occupied by a group of demons, so that was out. But there had to be a motel or an empty building somewhere. Maybe that old mansion the other Angel had lived in. It had enough windows that it was unlikely to have been claimed by any vampires.

Buffy decided that she would try the mansion as she lifted a hand to knock.

"Thank God you're all right!" Giles exclaimed relieved as he opened the door. Then he caught sight of Angel and his eyes widened. "You!"

Buffy looked from Angel to the ex-Watcher, but couldn't tell much from their expressions. "You know each other?"

"Yes. I am sorry I didn't believe you." Giles answered, then, his eyes still on Angel, he added. "Won't you come in?" 

Buffy thought she saw surprise in Angel's eyes at the invitation. So, Giles knew that Angel was a vampire and needed an explicit invitation to be able to enter. That would save her some explanations.

As they entered the living room Angel and Buffy found themselves pushed to the side by two teenagers pouncing on their three companions. One of them was a girl with dark shoulder length hair, the other was a good looking boy with short blond hair, as tall as Angel and even bigger than Larry. They were followed by the unwelcome sight of Buffy's new Watcher. 

"There you are." He said, every line of his body radiating disapproval. "I'll have you know, that I find your behavior totally unacceptable. A good Slayer is expected to follow her Watcher's orders at all times. You will collect your things at once and we will be on our way to Cleveland."

"I am not going anywhere for a few days." Buffy told him calmly. "The Master may be dead, but there is still a lot of clean-up to do here. I have seen the reports about Cleveland, and it can easily wait until things here have calmed down."

Buffy watched Wesley's mouth drop open. There had been other times when she had quietly ignored his orders, but this was the first time she had actually spoken out against them. Then she caught Giles sleeve and asked him: "Did you already destroy Anyanka's necklace?"

With amusement she watched his mouth drop to match Wesley's. "How ...how ...did you...? I did, but nothing changed." He made a sweeping gesture to indicate the world around them.

Buffy nodded with satisfaction. "So, I was right to come back." Then she took in Giles dispirited expression and added: "Actually, you did change things, at least for me." She cast a speculative look in Wesley's direction and smiled. "I wonder if this Cordelia is still alive. It might be fun to introduce her to certain people."

"Did you say that you killed the Master?" Giles asked.

Buffy nodded. "Oz and Angel helped. And I smashed his skeleton so they wouldn't try to revive him."

"Vampires don't leave a skeleton..." Wesley protested.

"This one did." Buffy interrupted him, and handed him a bag. "I brought you his skull as a souvenir." Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Buffy thought with satisfaction. 

* * * * *

Angel stood behind Buffy, feeling isolated and alien. As he watched the teenagers talking excitedly about the night's events, he felt the old familiar stab of loneliness. He fought down the self-pity that rose up reflexively, telling himself that it was nothing less than he deserved. He was a vampire; he had done terrible things. His conscience made it impossible for him to associate with his own kind any longer, and there was no place for him in the world of humans.

Being the only vampire cursed with a soul made for a bleak and lonely existence, and sometimes the hunger for simple companionship was almost worse than his constant craving for fresh human blood. For the short walk back to town from the factory he had savored the illusion of being part of a group, but the sun would be rising soon and he still needed to find a safe place to hide for the day. He looked at Buffy, but didn't know what to say to her. He might as well just leave. It wasn't as if anyone would miss him.

His movement towards the door caught Buffy's attention. She glanced from him to the clock on the wall, then turned back to the two men. "I better get going. I haven't found a place to stay at yet."

Giles looked from Buffy to Angel. "It's kind of late to start looking now. You're welcome to stay here until you can make other arrangements. Both of you." 

Angel blinked and looked at Giles to make sure he had heard right.

Giles gave him a mirthless smile. "With the Slayer staying here, I am not likely to get attacked by any vampires, don't you agree?"

Before Angel could answer Wesley broke in contemptuously. "Vampires can't enter a house unless you invite them. But I guess I should expect nothing less from you. You are well known for your groundless paranoia in the Council."

"Thank God you're here to tell me these things." Giles' sarcastic answer made the other man bristle.

There was a sparkle of amusement in Buffy's eyes as she looked at Angel. "Well, with Angel around we are perfectly safe. I never could have gotten all those people out without his help."

Giles raised his eyebrows. "Indeed." Then he turned to Angel and said. "Since you come so highly recommended, let me show you where you can sleep. And if you want to clean up a bit, there is the shower. I think, I have a pair of sweat pants that should fit you, too."

Angel followed him; more than a little bemused by his change from tortured prisoner to tolerated guest in the span of one night. For the second time Buffy had managed to effect a major change in his life. 

As he let the warm water wash away the stink of his imprisonment, his mind went back to the moments before they had entered the factory. How had Buffy found out about his curse, let alone that there was a clause to it that he was totally unaware off? 

On the surface her remark that she had just spent five days in a parallel world seemed ludicrous. But how else could she have gotten the coat, the crosses, the holy water, as well as knowledge about him and his curse? And there was more to it than that. Her whole attitude had changed as well, all in the blink of an eye. The fire of her heart, that had captured his own when he had watched her being called, had been reduced to nothing but a fitful flicker by the time he had seen her again. When she had freed him from his chains so he could lead her to the Master's factory. Now it was back, burning bright and strong, and again he felt himself drawn to it like a moth to the flame.

* * 7 * *

"I demand to know what has been happening here!" Wesley bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, his hands clasped behind his back, glaring down at Buffy for all he was worth.

"Look I've had a really long day. Can't this wait?" Buffy let out a tired sigh. 

"Yeah, why don't you give her a break?" Owen broke in, planting himself firmly between Buffy and her Watcher. "She just saved a bunch of people from being juiced like oranges in the Master's factory, she actually killed the one who's been calling up all the demons and monsters, and instead of thanking her you chew her out! What have *you* done lately?"

Buffy felt her eyebrows go up in surprise, and suppressed a smile at the sight of her Watcher sputtering helplessly, totally thrown by the teenager towering above him.

"Why don't we talk about it tomorrow? Or more precisely, later today?" Giles broke in diplomatically. "I am sure we'll all be the better for some sleep. Hmm?" 

"Very well." Wesley conceded. "But I expect you to make a full report to me at the Marston Arms at four o'clock sharp, young lady! God only knows what kind of nonsense Mr. Giles has been filling your head with!" 

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him.

"Charming person." Oz remarked dryly.

Buffy turned and smiled up at Owen. "Thank you for the bail. I didn't think I would get off that easily."

A slight flush creeping up his neck, Owen waved off her thanks. "Anytime. Hey, if you're gonna hang around for a while, maybe you'd go to the Senior Picnic with me? That is... " He trailed off uncertainly, the blush rising up into his cheeks.

"If I have the time, why not?" Buffy answered with a shrug, thinking of the fun she had had with Xander at the Bronze in the other Sunnydale.

"Great!" Owen said. 

"It is getting really late." Giles interrupted. "I think it's time you all got home. Your parents will be worried. The sun's almost up, so you should be save enough."

Buffy waited for him to close the door behind the teenagers before she asked him if she could borrow his first aid kit.

"Yes, certainly. Are you hurt badly?" he asked worried.

"I'm fine, just dirty." She reassured him. "But I think Angel could use some patching up."

Giles gave her long look before he turned and retrieved the kit. "If you don't mind my asking, what exactly do you know about him?"

Buffy took the kit. "I know that since a bunch of gypsies restored his soul about a hundred years ago, he is one of the good guys. Are you having second thoughts about inviting him into your house?"

"No, no... I just don't... He asked for my help in stopping the Harvest two years ago. But with him being a vampire..." Giles shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes I wonder if things would be different if I'd... That's why it was so tempting to think that there might be a way to change all this."

Buffy heard Angel come out of the Bathroom and told Giles. "Let me take care of Angel and we can talk some more about this whole Anyanka deal."

She entered Giles' den to find Angel standing in the shadows looking out the window at the sun rising behind the hills. For a moment she hesitated in the doorway, watching him. Standing there barefoot in a pair of dark gray sweats he projected a vulnerability she didn't remember ever seeing in the other Angel. She resolutely squashed the sympathy that rose within her. Soul or no soul that was still a vampire she was looking at.

Angel turned as she walked into the room and looked at her with a mixture of surprise and wariness. Suddenly unsure of herself, Buffy stopped a few feet in front of him. "I brought bandages and some gel to put on those burns." she said indicating the welts, bruises and blisters covering his torso.

"I'm fine." he told her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "Vampires are pretty hard to kill."

"Maybe so," she answered, "but you are going to get Giles' nice clean sheets all dirty, if we don't patch you up."

One corner of his mouth quirked up in response. "Can't have that." He agreed.

She handed him the jar Willow had given her. "Here, hold this. It's for holy water burns, but it should help with the welts as well."

"You carry special medicines for vampires?" Angel asked incredulous.

"Not as a rule. This is something Willow gave me." Buffy felt Angel stiffen under her hands and looked up. "Not this Willow, the other Willow. She never got vamped and is one of Buffy's best friends." She sighed at the confusion clearly written on his face. "I told you I spent five days in a different world? Well, it was what our world, would have been like, if I had come to Sunnydale in time to stop the Harvest." 

She shook her head looking down at her hands. "It was really weird to meet myself... she was so... different. And I just *can't* understand how she could *ever* fall in love with..." recalling who she was talking to, she swallowed the rest of that sentence and hurried on, "Anyway there was another me, another you, another Giles... Willow and Xander were both still human... and my mother... my mother was still alive."

Buffy swallowed hard at the memory of getting a chance to say a proper good bye to her mom. 

"If there was no Harvest that means..." Angel interrupted her reverie.

"A world where people still believe demons and vampires are fairy tales." Buffy nodded. "Peaceful and quiet."

"Why didn't you stay?" he asked her quietly.

"It was my duty as a Slayer to come back." she answered, moving to treat his back.

"But from what Giles said downstairs, this world wasn't even supposed to exist any more. Why would you think it your duty to return to a world that was about to vanish?" Angel persisted.

"But I wasn't *sure* it would vanish," Buffy countered, then added quietly "and I wasn't needed there. They already had two Slayers. I... I just didn't belong there." Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. "That whole place was so orderly and full of color. It was almost bizarre."

"Still," she continued quietly, cleansing the puncture wound in his lower back of the dirt and wooden splinters embedded in it, "it is rather comforting to think of my mom in a place like that. Safe, and out of the reach of any of the creatures here that could hurt her."

Placing the last piece of medical tape, she whispered: "Even if that means I will never see her again."

Why am I telling him any of this? she asked herself, briskly gathering her supplies. 

"Sorry, I don't usually run on like this." she told him curtly as she turned to leave the room.

"Thank you." The soft words stopped her in her tracks.

"What for?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder.

He just looked at her and made a helpless gesture with one hand as if he wasn't quite sure himself, or didn't know how to say what he meant. Again Buffy was struck by how vulnerable he looked. She felt a sudden kinship with this creature of the night. Like her, he was stuck somewhere between the worlds of humans and monsters not truly part of either. One of a kind. Alone. 

Uncomfortable with the feeling, she just nodded and hastily closed the door behind her.


	2. The Winter Brunch

The Winter Brunch

Disclaimer: all characters are borrowed from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

* * 1 * *

Buffy sprawled in her chair looking up at Wesley pacing the length of the guestroom at the Marston Arms with a closed expression on her face. "I know you didn't want me to come to Sunnydale, but since I am here, it's my duty as a Slayer to get this place into some kind of order before moving on. This place's infestation of demons is even worse than the one we cleaned out in Manhattan. From what Giles told me, it is the proximity of the Hellmouth. It acts like a magnet for Evil." 

Her Watcher stopped and pivoted to face her squarely. "I don't want you to have any further contact with Mr. Giles. He was thrown out of the Watchers over two years ago, and for good reason!" 

"Fine. Then you tell me where all the different demons are holed up." Buffy sighed. 

"Well, I..." Wesley went on the defensive, "I will have to do some research first. I have no information about Sunnydale. It will take me a little time to prepare..." 

"So why not take advantage of Giles knowledge of this place? He has been fighting here for the last two years; he should have a pretty good idea of what nasties live where." Buffy suggested reasonably. "And the more accurate my information, the sooner I will be able to move on to Cleveland or wherever else they need the Slayer next." 

Wesley mulled that over for a few moments. "I will have to inform the Council and see what they have to say..." 

"You do that." Buffy said, getting up from her chair. "In the meantime I'll talk to Giles and ask him to make a list of nasties and their locations." 

"Wait! I still have more questions about what happened last night!" Wesley pointed out. 

Which was the main reason Buffy wanted to leave. She had been entirely truthful about her fight at the factory, but she had decided not to tell Wesley about her five-day vacation in the other Sunnydale. She hadn't even told Giles more than the basics, and he had been personally involved in both worlds. "I don't think there is any more to tell. You can always talk to Oz and the other people that where there," she said, knowing full well how much he disliked talking to civilians. 

To her surprise he actually took her up on the suggestion. "Yes, I guess I should do that. They are a part of these 'White Hats' that Mr. Giles has organized to help him fight the minions of Evil around here, are they not? They can act as your support team until we can get a Watcher Swat team here." 

"I told you before: I don't want a support team." Buffy told him flatly. 

Wesley took off his glasses, pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned them before answering her. "I don't understand you. You worked with a team under your previous Watcher. Very successfully, too, if I may add." 

Buffy automatically clamped down on the pain that surfaced at every mention of her previous Watcher and her team of demon fighters. "I got them all very successfully killed, you mean. I am supposed to save people's lives, not let them die in my stead!" 

"We are fighting a war. In wars people die." Wesley reminded her. 

"Not if I can help it." Buffy said quietly. 

* * * * *

Oz was sitting on one corner of the table in Giles living room idly strumming his guitar thinking about the strange events of the night before. It had started when they had rescued Cordelia from Xander and Willow. He still found it hard to believe that she had been out after dark in a shiny blue dress that just screamed 'bite me' to any vampires around. Of course the vampires had taken her up on the invitation rather quickly. He and Larry had taken her body to the incinerator that same night. 

So, just imagine his surprise when he saw her walking the school hallways this morning as if nothing had ever happened to her. He would have to tell Giles about that one. 

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to find the Slayer's vampire partner standing in the hallway leading into the rest of the house. Strange to think of a vampire as anything but an enemy, but without his and the Slayer's help he would undoubtedly be dead by now. 

They just looked at each other for a few minutes before Oz finally broke the silence. "Well, you look a lot better than yesterday. Which reminds me: There are some leftovers from the Master's machine in the fridge. Maybe you should eat before the others get here. They might get a little freaked by your diet." 

The other nodded and soundlessly disappeared into the kitchen. Strange character that, Oz thought. Almost as strange as his name. Who would ever think to name a vampire Angel? 

Angel was still in the kitchen when the door opened to admit Larry, Amy, Sandy, and to Oz' surprise her brother Owen. 

"I see you dragged your brother along." Oz greeted the brown-haired girl. 

With a snort the girl jumped up on the table next to Oz. "Actually it was the other way around. I think my big brother has a serious crush on the new girl that came to our rescue." 

"I do not! Can't a guy be concerned about his little sister? You did get kidnapped by a bunch of vamps yesterday," Owen defended himself. 

"Oh, so you asked her to the Winter Brunch out of pure gratitude for saving poor little me?" Sandy needled him. "I am soo moved." Sandy put a hand over her heart and blinked up at her brother with a soulful expression on her face. 

Owen shrugged a slight flush creeping up his neck. "I was just trying to make her feel welcome. The longer she stays the better for all of us. I mean, come on! She took out the Master!" 

Oz saw Amy shift, clearly unhappy with the topic of conversation. She had had a crush on Owen for about a year now, ever since he had stepped in and prevented a bunch of high school jocks from beating her up for being a witch. Not that Owen ever seemed to see her as anything but his little sister's friend. 

Larry got a piece of wood from the pile in the corner of the living room, picked up a knife and began to whittle it into a stake. "She certainly can fight." He agreed with Owen. "We should take advantage of her being here and go after some of the tougher demons. If we work together, maybe we can make a dent in the local monster population." 

The door opened and Giles entered talking to someone following him. "I really wish you'd reconsider. You should accept any help offered you. We all have some experience fighting these things. It's not like we don't know what we'd be getting ourselves into. And Amy is quite powerful as a witch. There have been quite a few occasions where one of her spells saved the day." 

Buffy followed him into the room a stubborn expression on her face. "Look, its *my* job to fight these creatures, and I prefer to fight alone." 

"But you said yourself yesterday that you might not have been able to beat the Master and free all those people without Angel's and Oz' help!" Giles countered. 

"It is one thing to accept someone's help when you are trying to save them. It's something altogether different to endanger their lives for no good reason." Buffy stated flatly. 

"Ridding the world of monsters sounds like a pretty good reason to me." Sandy chimed in. 

"Yeah," Larry agreed, "and there is safety in numbers. We can protect each other." 

Oz watched a pained expression flicker across the Slayer's face. "When I am out there, I need to be able to concentrate on killing demons. Having you around would just be a liability. I can't be distracted by having to protect civilians. I won't be responsible for your deaths." 

That silenced them all as effectively as a bucket of cold water. Buffy looked at them all in turn, her face an emotionless mask, but when her eyes met Oz' he thought he saw an old pain hidden in their depths. She turned back to Giles. "You said that you had a map?" 

Wordlessly Giles handed her a folded map of Sunnydale. One of several they used to keep track of where the different demons made their homes. 

Buffy nodded her thanks and made her way out the door. As she left, Oz saw Angel detach himself from the shadows and follow her, scooping up a couple of stakes as he passed next to Larry. He saw the others jump as they noticed the presence of the vampire for the first time. 

Owen scowled as the door closed behind Angel. "What's so special about him that he gets to go with her?" he wanted to know. 

Oz and Giles exchanged a look, but neither of them felt like explaining to Owen what made Angel different from the rest of them. 

"So, what do we do now?" Amy wanted to know. "Should we just go home?" 

"She does have a point." Giles came to Buffy's defense. "I have never liked putting any of you kids in danger." 

"Giles, just being alive puts us in danger." Oz reminded him. "Personally I'd rather go down fighting, than being slaughtered like sheep. Which is what almost happened yesterday." 

"Just because she doesn't want to take us along, doesn't mean we can't go out on our own like we usually do." Larry stated. 

"We'll show her that we aren't a liability. We can take care of ourselves!" Owen declared. 

Oz looked at Owen a little surprised. He had helped out every once in a while, mostly to try and protect his little sister, but Owen had never really been all that interested in going out and fighting the creatures of the night. He even had repeatedly tried to talk Sandy into just staying at home after dark where it was safe. 

"Yes, well, be sure that you *do* take care." Giles said dryly. "I don't think she would be terribly impressed if you got yourselves killed." 

* * * * *

As she staked the last two vampires, Buffy was getting the feeling that this last group had been leading her into a distinct direction. So when she entered the next intersection she wasn't surprised to find a group of maybe fifteen vampires appearing out of the shadows to form a loose circle around her. She quickly raised her double load crossbow and let her last two arrows hit home. The clatter as she dropped the now useless bow was unnaturally loud in the stunned silence that followed the scream of two of her attackers exploding into dust. 

A big beefy vampire wearing a light blue jacket with oversized lapels that looked straight out of the disco era took a swaggering step forward. "Oh, poor little Slayer is out of arrows! Too bad. Time to die now." 

Buffy pulled out a stake and set herself for the coming fight. "I took out your Master in his own factory, you think I can't take a measly dozen of his hench-vamps?" Five more figures silently stepped out of the shadows, and Buffy felt her hopes of survival dwindle. Seventeen to one. Not good at all. 

Suddenly another shadowy figure dropped soundlessly from an overhanging tree branch. Buffy spun around to stake the new arrival. She stopped herself barely in time. 

"Don't do that! You were almost wearing this." She told Angel shaking her raised stake at him. 

"Well, lookee who's here." Disco boy chimed in. "Willow's little puppy! You should be careful when taking in strays, Slayer. His type will turn on their Master." 

"I guess you would know all about that." Buffy sneered. "Did you work up enough courage yet, or do you need to waste more time on pointless insults first?" 

Disco boy rushed her with an inarticulate scream. Buffy took a hold of one of his arms as she stepped out of the way of his rush and sent him flying into two other vamps coming up behind her. Two hands covered her face from behind only to disintegrate into dust, making her sneeze as Angel put one of his stakes to good use. Buffy took a hold of another vampire and sent her flying, bowling down a trio trying to rush Angel, then staked another one trying to tackle her from behind. Two more screams of dust told her that Angel was holding his own as well. 

Then two vampires managed to pin her between them while a third tried to close in for the kill. Leaning back on the vamps holding her, Buffy swung both her feet up and kicked the third one hard in his chest, then tried to twist herself free. Noticing a broken branch sticking out from the tree behind her she managed to impale her right hand attacker on it then swung her stake around to dust the other one. Before any others had a chance to attack her, she turned and buried her stake in two more vampires, too intent on Angel to pay her any attention, then she had to turn back to her own defense. A few minutes and five dust screams later the remaining vampires decided to hightail it out of there. 

Breathing hard, Buffy leaned her back up against the tree and turned to Angel. "I thought I told you guys to stay inside where it's safe! I don't want any more people dying in my place." 

Angel just handed her her crossbow. "No need to worry about that with me." 

"Overconfident much? You can die just like anybody else." Buffy reminded him. 

"I died over two hundred years ago," Angel shrugged. 

"That's walking around, sucking blood dead. I'm talking about crumbling to dust, blowing away dead." Seeing the pained expression on his face before he turned away, Buffy regretted having put it that way, even though it was nothing but the truth. Her voice softening despite herself, she added: "I don't want to be responsible for your final death any more than for anyone else's." 

Angel turned back to her. "Why? I'm a vampire; you're a Slayer. Why would you care?" 

"Slayer's Handbook rule number five: Every souled person has a right to the Slayer's protection." 

"I'm not exactly a person." Angel pointed out quietly. 

"Close enough. Well, since you are here, you might as well tag along." She said pushing away from the tree. "And thanks for coming to my rescue, but I rather work alone." 

"It's just as well that I followed you instead of the others. Seventeen to one are stiff odds, even for a Slayer." 

Buffy stopped dead and turned to face him. "The others went out on their own? Why didn't you stop them!" 

Angel raised an eyebrow at her. "And how would I do that? They have been going out almost every night for the last two years. Why should they stop just because there is a Slayer in town?" 

"Do you know where they went?" When Angel nodded, she grabbed his arm and started hurrying him down the street. "Come on. We better find them before they get themselves into trouble!" 

"Uh, Ms Summers?" 

"What?" she asked impatiently. "And don't call me Ms. Summers. My Watcher calls me that when he is *really* upset with me. Call me Buffy." 

"We're going the wrong way, Buffy. Oz and the others are that way." He said apologetically, pointing back over his shoulder. 

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" She demanded, spinning around to start back the way they had come. 

* * 2 * *

"I *am* going to the Winter Brunch!" Buffy told Wesley with a note of finality in her voice. "Ms Summers, as the Slayer you cannot afford to waste time on something as frivolous as a school dance! You should never have accepted the invitation in the first place." Her Watcher was getting more annoyed with every passing minute. 

Buffy decided that it was time to change her approach. "Look, I've done as you asked and am using the White Hats as a support team." That should soften him up, as long as he didn't find out that she wasn't doing it because he had told her to, but to keep them safe, since they refused to stay out of the fighting. "My birthday is less then two weeks away. Look at it as an early birthday present. Besides, I have been dreaming of it for the last few nights. I *have* to go!" Before a botched spell had pulled her into an alternate reality, she had been doing her best to turn herself into a cold and unfeeling fighting machine. The five days she had spent with her alter ego in the other Sunnydale had shown her that a Slayer's life didn't have to be limited to fighting and dying, and she was determined not to lose herself again to the world of demons and darkness. 

Wesley hesitated. "You have had dreams about this dance?" 

Buffy nodded keeping her face carefully blank. 

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Wesley asked and Buffy felt her hopes rising. "If the senior class is being threatened by the forces of evil, of course you need to be there to thwart them." 

Buffy almost groaned. She was about to protest, when it hit her that he had actually agreed that she should go. Feeling a bit guilty about exploiting his misinterpretation of her remark, she nevertheless agreed quickly. "Exactly! And that means that I need to go to the mall and get a new outfit and shoes to fit the occasion." When Wesley opened his mouth to protest she added quickly, "For camouflage. I have to be able to blend in with the other kids there." 

"Good point," Wesley admitted reluctantly. "I better go with you. We need to find you a dress you can fight in." 

Buffy was not thrilled by the idea of going shopping with her Watcher. She could just picture the kind of dress he would pick for her. But rather then arguing, she just suggested: "I should probably ask Amy and Sandy to come along as well. I am a little out of touch when it comes to fashions." 

"As you should be. A good Slayer doesn't give a thought to things like that." Wesley's superior tone was really starting to get on Buffy's nerves. Next he would start again on how she should be staying with him at the Marston Arms, saying that she was taking unfair advantage of Giles' hospitality. He did have a point. The small house was kind of crowded with both her and Angel staying there as guests. But staying with Wesley would mean having him breathing down her neck whenever she wasn't actually out on patrol. And that would quickly drive her out of her mind. She decided that it was time to take a look at the mansion on Crawford Street. She had liked staying there during her time in the other Sunnydale. 

A smile played across her face as she remembered her time with the Scooby gang there. Her smile grew as she suddenly came up with the perfect way to distract Wesley and give her a little more breathing room. She just hoped that this world's Cordelia was still around and hadn't been turned into a vampire like Willow and Xander. 

From what she had seen of the other Wesley, Cordelia should prove a very thorough distraction. 

* * *

"Well then, how about that one?" Wesley asked pointing at a pink monstrosity with a flower print that Buffy wouldn't ask a scarecrow to wear. Pretending to give it serious thought, she picked it up and gave it a closer look before shaking her head regretfully. "No place to conceal a stake or other weapons." 

Sandy quickly put up a hand to hide a smile. Buffy had found some rational objection to each of Wesley's choices and the Watcher was getting more than a bit frustrated. 

"I guess that only leaves the green one then." Wesley concluded. "The skirt is full enough and short enough not to restrict your movements and there should be plenty of places to hide stakes and a knife in all those ruffles. Perfect!" 

True, Buffy admitted, if you didn't mind that it was a hideous shade of pea green, or that all those ruffles would make her look like an advertisement for a curtain factory. "It doesn't fit." She told him firmly. 

"How can you know that without trying it on?" Wesley demanded exasperated. 

With a sigh Buffy took it from him, walked over to one of the mirrors by the dressing rooms and held it up in front of her. If anything it looked even worse than she had expected. The color gave her skin a sallow tint and all those ruffles made her look wider than she was tall. 

"Oh, look everybody. It's the little Green Giant!" Buffy turned to see Cordelia coming out of the dressing room looking absolutely stunning in a cream-colored gown that cascaded down over her long slim legs like a foamy waterfall. Four other girls hovered in the background snickering at Cordy's remark. 

"Hey guys, it's Snow White!" Sandy countered stepping up beside Buffy. "Where did you leave the rest of your seven dwarves?" 

"Oh, ha-ha! Very funny." The blond girl behind Cordelia said. "If it isn't the dateless maiden society! Still haven't found any spells to make the boys actually notice you?" 

Buffy saw Amy's eyes narrow in anger and stepped in quickly. "Actually we all *have* dates for the Winter Brunch, unlike some people, I'm sure." 

"Let me guess," Cordelia's voice was dripping with sweetness, "you must be Buffy. I heard that Owen was playing the Good Samaritan by taking some ugly duckling to this dance. Just don't be disappointed if he doesn't stick with you for more than one dance. Pity only goes so far." With that parting shot Cordelia disappeared back into the dressing room. The other four girls followed, laughing at the joke. 

So I'm an ugly duckling, huh? Buffy thought. Well, this duckling is about to turn into a swan! she decided angrily. She hung the green dress back on the closest rack and turned back to the others only to find Wesley standing motionless, staring after Cordelia. The sight of the spellbound expression on his face turned her anger into amused satisfaction, but it didn't change her resolve to outshine Cordelia. 

"Let's look somewhere else." She said pulling on her Watcher's sleeve to get him moving. "And Wesley, I think it might be a good idea if you went to the dance as well. I might need your input on the situation." 

"What?" Wesley asked slightly confused. "Oh, the dance. Yes, yes, may be I should come along." He agreed, throwing a look back over his shoulder in the direction of the dressing rooms. "As a chaperone, so to speak, - and to help you perform your duties as the Slayer." 

"Great! Let's find you a tux!" Buffy said, leading the way into the next store. 

While Wesley picked out his suit, the girls looked through the dresses. Buffy found several that would have been acceptable, but she was no longer willing to settle for acceptable. She had almost given up when she spotted a blood red dress almost hidden at the back of the store. 

With a satisfied smile she held it up in front of her. She loved the feel of the smooth silk, and the full skirt, cut long in the back but coming up above her knees in the front, would allow her plenty of freedom to move and fight if she had to. Her reverie was interrupted by her Watcher's sharp voice. "No, absolutely not! There is no way that you'll blend in wearing that! The color alone is enough to attract the notice of any vampire or demon around." 

"Well the dance is during the day, so it's unlikely any vampires will see me in this." Buffy countered reasonably. "And if this dress will attract any evil demon present to me, so much the better. It will save me the trouble of having to go look for it." 

"This is plain foolhardy! No sane person would wear that shade of red!" 

"Which is probably why it's been marked down so much. This will leave us more money for all the other things I need." Buffy pointed out practically. 

"Other things? What other things?" Wesley asked weakly. 

"Oh, shoes, make-up, a couple stilettos and arm sheathes to fit under the sleeves, some matching jewelry... you know, girlie stuff." 

* * * * *

Oz ran his finger around the inside of his collar in an effort to work some of the stiffness out of it, but only managed to skew his tie. With a long-suffering sigh he did his best to straighten it. Looking up he found Angel watching him with something close to amusement lighting his eyes. 

"You have no idea how lucky you are you don't have to go to this thing." He told the vampire. 

"If you hate it so much, why did you agree to go?" Angel was busy carving wooden stakes for tonight's patrol. 

Oz shrugged. "Sandy managed to talk Larry into taking her. Owen is taking Buffy. It would have been unfair to leave Amy without a date. We White Hats need to stick together." He sat down next to Angel and picked up a piece of wood and a carving knife. "How long have they been at it?" he asked gesturing towards the back of the house. 

It was Angel's turn to shrug. "The girls have been closeted in Buffy's room for over an hour. It can't be much longer." 

"Haven't been dating much, have you?" Oz said dryly. 

"Not lately, no." Angel answered. 

Giles came out of the kitchen wearing a plain black suit and tie. "Hello, Oz. Where are the others? I thought they were coming with you." 

"Owen and Larry went to pick up Wesley. Buffy talked him into coming." 

"Buffy talked him into coming? I wonder why she would want to do that." Giles asked a bit surprised. 

"Ask her." Oz shrugged. 

The door to Buffy's room opened and Sandy and Amy came out just as Larry, Owen and Wesley came in from outside. 

"Hey, you guys look sharp!" Owen exclaimed. "I almost didn't recognize either of you." 

"Just wait till you see the dress Buffy is wearing!" Sandy told him. 

"Yes, well, none of that is really important." Wesley interrupted them. "What is important is that there might well be serious trouble at the dance, and we have to be ready to deal with it. Amy, you reviewed those spells I showed you? Will you be able to cast them reliably?" 

Amy gave Wesley a cold look. "Don't worry about me. I've done much more complicated stuff than..." 

Oz was distracted from Amy's words when Angel's knife suddenly stopped in mid stroke. He looked over at the vampire to find him frozen in place, so stunned by whatever had caught his attention, he had even stopped breathing. Oz followed his look and felt slightly stunned himself. 

It was clearly Buffy that stood silently in the doorway, but she looked completely different from the Slayer that went out on patrol with them every night. A pair of dark red slippers had replaced her heavy combat boots, and instead of her usual cargo pants and tank top, she was wearing a shiny silk dress falling in graceful folds around her slim figure. But the biggest difference was her face. Her soft blond hair hung open, framing a face that looked years younger with the scar artfully concealed. Her big, expressive eyes quickly scanned the room and came to rest on Angel's. Oz saw a slight flush color her cheeks before she quickly looked away and moved into the room to greet the others. 

"Wow, Buffy, you look amazing." Owen greeted her. 

"Thanks." Buffy answered, her blush deepening under her Watchers disapproving stare. "If everyone's ready, we better go. We don't want to be late and miss all the fun." 

"Hmpf!" Wesley snorted. "You are going there because it is your duty as the Slayer to protect people," he reminded Buffy, "not to have fun!" 

"I can't do both?" Buffy wanted to know. 

* * 3 * *

Buffy tried to concentrate on the feel of Owen's arms around her and enjoy the dance, but thoughts of tonight's patrol and her duties as the Slayer kept intruding, making her feel slightly guilty to be here at all. The fact that she had basically tricked Wesley into agreeing to the day's entertainment by letting him think that she had had some prophetic dreams about a disaster at the Winter Brunch, didn't help either. With a sigh she stepped back as the song ended and Owen lead her off the dance floor. 

"So, are you having fun?" Owen asked her. 

"Yeah, it's... fun." Buffy answered without much enthusiasm. "Are you having fun?" 

"How not? I get to dance with the most beautiful girl here. Even if she does seem a little distracted." 

"I'm sorry." Buffy smiled up at him. "I guess I'm just not used to having fun anymore. It feels kinda strange. - You think I'm beautiful?" 

"As does every other guy here, I bet. Hey, can I get you something to drink or eat? The Buffet is great. The Mayor himself arranged for the food." 

"Sure." Buffy accepted his offer gratefully. "Just make it something sinful and fattening." 

Buffy stood alone at the edge of the dance floor feeling awkward and conspicuous. Despite the satisfactory manner in which Cordelia had paled at the sight of Buffy on Owen's arm, she now regretted the impulse that had caused her to choose the dark red silk dress. It had been a long time, more than two years, since she had last been to a high school dance and she felt terribly out of place. In her memories it had been a lot more fun than this. 

"Hey!" Amy came up next to her with Oz on her arm. "So what do you think of Sunnydale's lighter side? Probably pretty tame compared to what you're used to." 

"Well, I'm not really used to going to dances. Though this one is better than he last one I went to." 

"How so?" Oz wanted to know. 

Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. "A bunch of vampires decided to crash the party. I ended up getting expelled for burning down the gym." 

"Does disaster follow you everywhere you go?" Amy wanted to know. 

"Ever since I became the Slayer it certainly seems that way," was Buffy's gloomy answer. 

"So, where's your Watcher?" Oz tried to change the subject. "I kind of expected him to follow you around like a shadow, making sure you didn't accidentally have fun." 

Thinking of Wesley brought a satisfied grin to her face. "Oh, he has fallen totally under Cordelia's spell. I don't think he has talked to me even once since she made her entrance." 

"Cordelia, huh? Is that why you wanted him to come?" Oz wondered. 

Buffy gave him a crooked smile. "Let's just say that I had a feeling that he might find her fascinating." 

"A lot of boys seem to. She is almost a shoo-in for Winter Queen." Amy shrugged. "They'll be announcing the winner at the end of the dance." 

Owen came back and handed Buffy a chocolate milkshake. "Sinful and fattening, as ordered." 

"Food and drink in one," Buffy accepted it gratefully and took a sip, "and tasty. Can't ask for more than that." 

"And Wesley wants to talk to you. I ran into him at the buffet." Owen told her with an apologetic smile. 

"So much for your clever plan to keep Wesley off your back." Amy remarked, sounding almost happy. 

"So much for trying to have any fun." Buffy said resigned. "Sorry Owen, but I better go see what he wants. He is my Watcher." 

* * *

She found Wesley standing at the end of the Buffet table in front of the hallway leading to the restrooms wringing his hands with impatience. "Finally!" He greeted Buffy. 

"What's up?" Buffy wanted to know. 

"I think something terrible has happened to Cordelia. She has locked herself into the bathroom and won't let anyone else in," Wesley told her. 

"Maybe she found a run in her stocking?" Buffy suggested. 

"Do be serious!" Wesley reproved her. "Just listen to those noises she is making!" 

Buffy cocked an ear towards the bathroom and nodded agreement. "You're right. Much too distressed for a run stocking. Sounds more like she discovered a zit on her face." 

"Will you just go check on her?" Wesley asked impatiently. 

"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going." Buffy sighed. 

A quick twist and a shove dealt with the locked door, but what she found inside surprised even Buffy. Cordelia stood in front of the mirrors, both hands firmly pressed over her mouth, a slightly crazed expression in her eyes. Probably caused by the ten to fifteen frogs of different colors that were clinging to her gown.

"Wow, way to accessorize Cordelia." One of the frogs dropped off Cordelia and hopped over towards Buffy who flicked it away with a well-aimed kick of her toe. It hit the wall with an audible splat, but instead of falling to the floor dead, it just picked itself up and again hopped towards Buffy. 

Seeing that more drastic measures were needed to stop this amphibian menace, Buffy pulled out one of her stilettos and skewered it neatly through the head. To her surprise this caused it to disappear in a little puff of smoke. 

"Now there is something you don't see frogs do every day." Buffy said slightly taken aback. 

"Mmmh!" One hand still firmly pressed over her mouth, Cordelia was gesturing wildly at the remaining frogs. 

"Hold on, I'll have you defrogged in a minute." Buffy told her. 

After the last frog had disappeared in a puff of smoke, Buffy turned back to a slightly less frantic looking Cordelia. "Now, would you mind telling me how come you're such a frog magnet?" 

"Mmmh mmmh mm!" 

"Can't understand a word you're saying like that." Buffy told her pulling Cordy's hand away from her mouth. 

"No! Don't!" Buffy stared fascinated as two frogs dropped from Cordelia's mouth to the floor only to turn around and start climbing up a frantically squirming Cordelia, who once again had one hand firmly planted over her mouth. 

"Well, I guess that explains it." Buffy said while quickly dispatching the new arrivals. "I think we need to call in the cavalry on this one." When she saw Cordelia shake her head frantically, she added: "This is really not my area of expertise. You want to be able to talk without it raining frogs, we'll have to tell someone who knows a bit more about magic than I do." 

After a moment Cordelia gave her a reluctant nod. 

* * * * *

"But why won't you tell me what is going on?" Oz heard Wesley's voice and turned around to see him, Buffy, and of all persons Cordelia walking towards them. 

"Look, Wesley, it'll be much easier if I only have to explain it once." 

Oz thought she looked rather amused as she turned to ask them. "Where is Giles?" 

"I think he is in the library. He wanted to check something in one of his books." Amy told her. 

"Okay, I guess the library is as good a place as any for this." She turned to go, but stopped as something occurred to her. "Are there any unused aquariums around here we could borrow?" 

"Yeah," Oz told her, "I think there are a couple in the science lab." 

"You think you could bring one to the library?" Buffy asked him. "And we need a screen or something for a lid, so they can't get out." 

"So what can't get out?" Owen wanted to know. 

"You won't believe it until you see it for yourself." Buffy was openly smiling now while Cordelia looked like she wanted to strangle her. 

Oz turned to Owen and shrugged. " Let's go get one then. The sooner we get it to the library, the sooner we'll find out what's going on." 

Oz and Owen arrived at the library to find Cordelia pacing back and forth looking ready to murder something, while the others were staring open-mouthed at Buffy. 

"So, every time she says something frogs start to appear?" Giles asked. Buffy nodded. "And they disappear in a puff of smoke when killed?" Again Buffy nodded. 

"Doesn't sound like any spell I ever heard of." Amy said. 

"No," Giles agreed, "You killed all the frogs? It might help if we had one of them to study." 

"That's what the aquarium is for." Buffy nodded towards Oz and Owen. "Care to fill it up, Cordelia?" Cordelia just glared at Buffy. "Oh, come on, don't be shy!" Buffy told her. 

"I don't know. I kind of like the idea of Cordy having to keep her mouth shut." Sandy said thoughtfully. "Do we have to cure her? A silent Cordy would be a big improvement. It might even make up for her non-existent fashion sense. She probably gets her clothes at S-Mart's leftover clearance sales. I mean, just look at what she is wearing right now..." 

This last proved too much for Cordy. "Shows what you know! This is a one of a kind... argh!" 

Sandy grinned as frogs dropped to the floor. "Thought that would work." 

"Wow. Those are some weird looking frogs." Oz said. 

"Yeah, I bet you could make a pretty penny selling them to the local pet shop." Sandy threw in. "Are you sure you want us to break this spell? You could have a great future as a supplier of exotic pet frogs." 

"You..."Cordy started incensed, but quickly slapped both hands over her mouth to stop more frogs from appearing. 

Buffy and Giles carefully picked the frogs off Cordy's dress and deposited them in the aquarium. 

"These really are rather remarkable." Giles commented holding up a frog covered with purple, blue and yellow spots. "Amy, Owen why don't you take a couple down to the lab and run some tests to see what elements were used to conjure them up? That might give us a clue as to how to break the spell. The rest of us will see if there is any mention of a spell like this in any of the books." 

* * *

"Ah!" Giles exclaimed coming down out of the stacks with a book in hands. "I believe I've found a fairly easy way to break the spell. One has simply to draw certain symbols into the air with a bundle of burning herbs and recite a short verse in Latin." 

Cordelia looked at Giles with a horrified expression, then reached for a pen and paper. 

"I believe I have all the needed ingredients for the spell at home." Giles announced, marking the place in the book with his finger. 

"Great!" Buffy said. "Let's go to your place. Cordelia can break the spell, and we can all get back to the party before all the food is gone." 

Cordy handed the piece of paper she had been writing on to Buffy, who read it out loud: "There is no way I'm going to hold some burning twigs. Do you have any idea what the smoke would do to my complexion? And how am I supposed to get the smell out of my clothes before I have to go up and accept the crown of Winter Queen?" 

"It's your choice." Sandy told her with a heartless grin. "You either do the spell, or your acceptance speech will be truly memorable." 

"She could use sign language." Oz suggested helpfully. 

"Who understands sign language?" Sandy pointed out. "Besides, she gave away enough other stuff to get herself elected, why not use the frogs as party favors?" 

"Don't you talk to her like that, young lady." Wesley came to Cordelia's defense. "Show some consideration for the acute distress from which this poor girl is suffering."

Sandy rolled her eyes up. "Yeah, whatever. Come on Larry, let's go tell Owen and Amy that we solved the problem and get back to the dance." With that she took a hold of Larry's arm and left the library. 

Buffy was about to follow them, when her Watcher stopped her. "Buffy, now that we have identified the threat and are about to deal with it, there is really no reason for you to waste any more time there. I am sure you're eager to start preparing for tonight's patrol." 

"But, - Owen - and how do we know that there isn't some demon or something just waiting to pounce on all those helpless teenagers?" Buffy objected. "I really think that I should stay until the end." 

"I assure you that I looked the whole area over quite thoroughly, and there were no signs of any demonic threat." Wesley reassured her. "Besides, Amy is staying here, and with the spell I showed her she should be able to contain any threat until you can get there to deal with it in a more permanent fashion." 

"But I didn't even get to finish my milkshake!" Buffy complained. 

"We can pick up another one on our way out." Oz offered. "The Mayor really did go all out with the Buffet." 

Wesley took off his glasses and slipped into the lecturing tone that always managed to get Buffy's hackles up. "This is precisely why I opposed your going in the first place," he told her earnestly. "You need to concentrate on your duties and not allow yourself to be distracted by inconsequentials." Buffy did her best to tune out the rest of his lecture as she followed him out of the library. 

* * 4 * *

By the time they reached Giles' house, Buffy wanted nothing more than to get this whole thing over with, so she could go on patrol and get away from Wesley before she strangled him. 

She hopped out of Oz' van and stormed into the house ahead of the others - only to freeze at the sight that met her as she entered the living room. 

Dressed only in a pair of dark gray sweat pants Angel was flowing through a series of Tai-Chi like exercises, so intently concentrating on his movements he didn't notice that he was no longer alone. 

"Well, hello salty... eek!" Cordelia broke off abruptly as frogs started to drop to the floor at her words. 

With a resigned sigh Buffy pulled out her stiletto and waited for the frogs to climb up Cordelia's skirt. But to her surprise the frogs totally ignored her and instead made a beeline for Angel, who had turned around at the sound of Cordelia's voice. He tried to sidestep the frogs, but they only changed direction to follow him. 

Buffy caught a hold of one, while the other began to climb up Angel's pants. 

"Interesting." Giles commented. "Why would the frogs be drawn to anyone except Cordelia?" 

Neatly dispatching her frog, Buffy shrugged. "Maybe they have a thing for the und - derdressed." She quickly changed what she was going to say, shooting an apologetic look up at Angel as she plucked the other frog off his leg. 

"I am not underdressed!" Cordelia protested, causing more frogs to drop. 

"No, no, of course not." Wesley reassured her. "You really look rather - splendid." 

Giving Wesley a closer look, Cordelia opened her mouth to speak only to be forestalled by Giles: "Cordelia, we really don't need any more frogs, and I would prefer to get back to the dance before Principal Snyder notices that I deserted my post as official chaperone." 

Seeing how little impression that argument made on Cordelia, Buffy decided to fall back on the methods Sandy had employed so successfully at the library and asked: "Who do you think will get crowned Winter Queen if you're not there?" 

"They wouldn't!" Cordelia exclaimed, too upset to pay any attention to the frogs dropping from her lips. "Where is that spell?" She demanded of Giles, who handed her a sheet of paper. "Read this until you're sure that you will be able to say it without any mistakes. I'll get the herbs ready." 

Seeing that Cordelia would do her part, Buffy looked around for the frogs only to spot the last one disappearing down the hallway. She followed them into Giles' den where she found Angel retreating wearily from the amphibian pursuit. As he passed a small table he scooped up the carving knife resting there amid some freshly carved stakes and stabbed the lead frog with enough force to sink the blade a good half inch into the floor. He quickly pulled it back out, ready to stab the next frog in line, only to find that the first one had not disappeared, but was still impaled on the knife's blade. 

Drawing his lips back in disgust, Angel took another step back - right into the sunlight streaming in through a crack between the curtains. Giving a yelp of pain, he made a sideways leap that landed him up against the wall on top of his bed. His face morphed into his vampire visage and a menacing growl rose from his throat as he retreated to the farthest corner of the bed, brandishing the carving knife with its froggy decoration in front off him like a shield. 

The sight of a big, strong vampire put to rout by a bunch of lowly frogs proved too much for Buffy. She burst out laughing. 

Angel's reproachful look only caused her to laugh harder. "I am sorry!" She gasped. "But if you could just see yourself!" Wiping at the tears streaming down her face, she set about dispatching the frogs as they climbed up the sides of the bed and made their way towards Angel. 

"I'm sorry." Buffy apologized again, having finally managed to stop laughing. "I've just never seen a vampire with frog-fear. Is that a common trait?" 

Shifting back to his human guise Angel stepped of the bed, a rather sheepish expression on his face. "I don't have frog-fear." He told her defensively. "I had forgotten about the crack between the curtains. The frog not dying and then the sun burning my back just made me jump." 

"And what an impressive jump it was." Buffy couldn't help herself from commenting with a smile. "But the frog not turning to smoke is rather strange." Buffy admitted with a frown. "Maybe they only go puff if you stab them in the head. The way vampires only go puff if you hit the heart." Slipping her stiletto back up into its arm-sheath, she gestured towards the knife in Angel's hand and asked: "Can I see that?" 

He handed it to her without protest, seeming almost relieved to get rid of it. Buffy pulled the frog off and stabbed it neatly through the head with the carving knife. The frog let out a tiny squeak, but otherwise showed no reaction, and when Buffy looked at its back, she could see no evidence of where Angel had stabbed it before. "That is rather creepy." Buffy observed. "Come on, let's see what Giles has to say to this." 

"You go ahead." Angel told her. 

"I thought you weren't afraid of these frogs?" Buffy couldn't resist asking. 

"I'm not." Angel told her firmly. "But I think it might be a good idea if I got dressed." he added, gesturing at his bare chest and feet. 

"Oh. Well, I'll see you out there then." She said, quickly turning away to hide the blush creeping up her neck. 

Buffy entered the living room to find Giles and Wesley in a heated argument over exactly how many sprigs of Sage should be included in the bundle of herbs, as well as the color and material of the ribbon used to tie it. 

When the argument degenerated into over polite stiffness, she decided to step in before the two Englishmen resorted to fists to settle the matter. She stepped forward and brandished the frog, still impaled on the knife, under their noses, causing both men to take a startled step backwards. 

"Ms. Summers, this is hardly the time for..." Wesley started annoyed, but Buffy interrupted him impatiently. "See this frog? It's not dead." 

"I can see it's not dead. Why does that matter?" Wesley demanded exasperated. 

"At a guess I would say because it has a knife sticking through its head?" Giles retorted dryly. At Wesley's blank look he added in the patient voice one would use to explain things to a slow child: "Because it didn't go puff like the others when Buffy stabbed it." 

"Ah. Oh." Wesley managed nonplussed. 

"Exactly." Buffy chimed in. "Now what I want to know is what happened to turn this guy into Super Froggy? Angel stabbed it clear through the back and now there isn't even mark there." 

Giles took the knife from Buffy to take a closer look. "Very curious indeed." 

"It doesn't look any different from any of the others." Wesley remarked skeptically. 

"Not obviously so, no." Giles agreed absentmindedly. 

"Excuse me?" Cordelia broke in impatiently. "Can we focus on what's important? I need to get rid of this spell so I can get crowned Winter Queen! Who cares why that icky frog is still alive as long as it stays away from me!" 

With a longsuffering sigh Buffy pulled out her stiletto and set about decimating the horde of frogs hopping towards the back of Giles house as a result of Cordelia's outburst. 

"Well, at least those frogs aren't invulnerable." Wesley pointed out as he watched them disappear in little puffs of smoke. 

"Yes. I wonder..." Giles pulled the frog off the knife blade and held it out towards Buffy. "Buffy, would you mind taking a stab at this fellow here?" 

Buffy had only gotten about half of Cordelia's newest production, but she obligingly turned to stab at the one in Giles hand. 

"Just as I suspected!" Giles said as he watched the frog go up in smoke with obvious satisfaction. "Could I have a look at that knife of yours?" 

Buffy handed it to him with a shrug. 

Giles twisted it slowly in his hands. "This is clearly very old. I think that is some kind of inscription here on the blade." 

"Looks a bit like runes." Wesley observed. "So it wasn't the frog that was different, it was the knife." 

"In that case, could I borrow it for a moment?" Angel asked stepping out of the hallway with brightly colored frogs climbing up his usual combination of black jeans and dark shirt. Buffy suppressed a smile at the sight of the vampire covered in frogs; an expression of resigned disgust on his face. As Giles wordlessly handed over the knife, Buffy pulled out its twin, and between them they made quick work of the remaining frogs. 

"I'll see what I can find out about the history of those knifes in my books." Giles told Buffy. 

"And I'll see if there is any mention of them in the Council archives." Wesley immediately offered not to be outdone. 

"Hello - o!" Cordelia interrupted. "Can we do this spell now?" 

"Yes, let's." Buffy agreed. "I have slayed more then enough of these things for one day... and my work-day hasn't even started yet!" 

* * *

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief when the spell went off without any more problems, but she soon found herself wishing that it hadn't worked as Cordelia seemed to try to make up for her relative silence by telling them exactly what she thought of this whole situation. Desperate to stem the flow of words she finally reminded Cordelia that she would miss the ceremony if she didn't get going soon. 

"Oh, what time is it?" Cordelia asked, then continued before anyone could answer. "I am sure to have nightmares about this for *months*! I am so totally traumatized. What if those frogs had messed up my dress? I need some moral support when I go back to the dance." With that she turned towards Angel and laid a hand on his arm. "Will you take me?" She asked, leaning in close against him. "And I can't thank you enough for keeping those horrid frogs from climbing all over me!" 

Buffy almost burst out laughing at Angel's startled expression. His looks around for help were met by a decidedly disapproving stare form her Watcher. Taking pity on him she stepped forward. "I am sure he would love to, but it is getting rather late. Why don't you let Wesley take you back to the dance? Angel and I really need to get ready for our patrol tonight." 

"Oh, do you go out to fight against those creepy monsters?" She asked Angel. "That is so brave! It's been horrible. I can't even drive my own car to school anymore. And don't even get me started on the clothes! Do you go out every night? Maybe I could come and help." 

"Why don't you talk to Wesley about that on your way to the dance?" Buffy broke in. "You wouldn't want to be late. And I am *sure* that Wesley will be more than happy to lend you all the moral support you need." Then she turned to Oz. "You'll take them back to the school in your van, right? *Please*!" 

Oz gave her a reassuring smile even as Cordelia finally turned from Angel to Wesley. "You go out and fight these demons, too? That sounds kind of exciting and sexy. But isn't it dangerous?" she asked him. 

"Yes, well, of course." Wesley told her as he led her out the door. "But that would never be enough to stop me. I laugh in the face of danger." 

Buffy rolled her eyes as she watched the others head out the door and muttered under her breath: "And isn't it strange how laughter can sound a lot like terrified screaming sometimes?" With a sigh she added: "I guess, I'll go get changed." 

"You're not going back to the dance?" Angel asked her. 

"Now that the horror threatening the senior class has been identified as Ms. Cordelia Chase, the Slayer has no more business being there." She tried to keep her tone light to hide her disappointment, but some of it must have come through, because Angel gave her a long searching look before asking quietly: "But what about Buffy Summers?" 

Buffy shrugged uncomfortably and looked away. "Sometimes I think Buffy Summers died the day Merrick found me. In her stead there is this thing called a Slayer; walking around in my body, killing vampires, ridding the world of evil." She swallowed against the tightness in her throat. "And compared to that what does Buffy Summers matter?" she added, her voice little more than a harsh whisper. 

She felt Angel's hands settle hesitantly on her shoulders, but refused to look up at him until his hands tightened and shook her gently. "Buffy Summers matters." He told her sincerely, his eyes looking deeply into hers. "The Slayer is *what* you are. But Buffy Summers is *who* you are. Don't give up on her." He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and added softly: "It is Buffy Summers that matters to Owen, not the Slayer." 

Buffy felt his concern envelop her like a warm blanket and almost stepped closer, for a moment tempted to lean on his offered strength, to take refuge in the safety of his arms wrapping around her, shutting out the horrors of her world. Instead she forced herself to straighten up and step back. "I don't think Owen has the slightest idea who Buffy Summers really is." She determinedly ignored the hollow feeling in her stomach as his hands dropped off her shoulders, reminding herself firmly that that was a vampire standing in front of her. "Not that I am all that sure who she really is myself anymore." She added. In her mind's eye she saw the Buffy of the other Sunnydale. Was that who Buffy Summers really was? In some ways her twin self had been more alien and incomprehensible to her than all the rest of that world taken together. She had found it hard to believe that that could have been her, ever. But looking up into Angel's eyes now, she suddenly had the unwelcome suspicion that she might have more in common with her other self than she would care to admit, even to herself. "And anyway, it is the Slayer not Buffy Summers that matters to the world. Especially this world." She reminded herself, trying to derail that train of thought. 

But Angel wasn't willing to give up quite that easily. "There have been hundreds of Slayers before you. There will be hundreds more after you. It isn't being the Slayer that makes Buffy Summers special. It is being Buffy Summers that makes this Slayer special, that makes her different from all the other Slayers. How many other Slayers have lasted as long or killed as many demons?" 

"How many other Slayers have had groups of regular humans fighting with them? Hiding behind them. Using them as a shield. Allowing them to die in her stead?" She countered bitterly. 

"Oh, is that what you were doing when you jumped between Giles and that Chaos demon?" Angel asked wryly. "You could have fooled me." 

For a moment she stared at him, resenting the fact that he refused to let her wallow in self-pity and guilt. Then she had a sudden vision of herself covered from head to toe with a thick layer of slime after finally managing to kill that Chaos Demon. She had needed Angel's help to even walk without her feet sliding out from under her. Her clothes had been a total loss, and she hadn't been sure she would ever get that stuff out of her hair. Her sense of humor reasserted itself, and she laughed despite herself. "Well, I had no idea how slippery and hard to get rid off all that slime would be! I'll do better next time," she told him. 

A deep-seated glow lighting his eyes, he smiled back at her. "I am sure you will." 

* * 5 * * 

Buffy carefully set her backpack on top of the low table in front of the fireplace in an effort to avoid stirring up more clouds of dust. She had made a thorough search of the whole house, but hadn't found any signs of life besides the tracks of mice, birds and raccoons left behind in the thick blanket of dust that covered everything. She wondered where she would find enough time to make this place livable, but thought it would be worth it. Both to get Wesley off her back and for the fond memories it brought back of her stay in the other Sunnydale. 

But first things first. She opened her backpack and set out the ingredients she would need to cast the spell that would turn this house into a home and seal it against vampires and other unsavory entities. 

* * * * * 

"And then Mrs. Garber said that I had no grasp whatsoever of the impact that all those demons are having on today's society. Please! As if anyone could miss seeing how far society has fallen! You just have to take one look at how people dress! And do you have any idea how hard it is to get a hold of a decent eyeliner?" 

Angel looked at the stake he was sharpening and wondered if Cordelia could really be as shallow as she sounded. For the last half-hour he had been trying to think of some acceptable way to stop her flood of words. This was possibly the first time he regretted having a soul. It would have been so easy to rid himself of her unwanted attentions before he got cursed. His thoughts drifted back to a young lady in London, who had tried to catch his fancy by entertaining him with her endless chatter. On the hunt for a suitable husband, she had seen only his rich clothing and mistaken him for a desirable conquest. She had smelled truly delicious, and it had been an easy matter to lure her out of the ballroom and onto the shadowy balcony... With a shudder of revulsion at the direction of his thoughts Angel pulled his eyes away from Cordelia's neck to find Cordelia looking at him in alarm. 

"What?" she asked him, lifting one hand up to cover the side of her neck. 

Unable to meet her eyes Angel just shook his head, ashamed of what he had been thinking of. 

"That hickey is showing through, isn't it?" Cordelia jumped up. "Oh, I am so going to kill Devon!" With that she stormed down the hallway in search of the bathroom. 

Taken aback by her abrupt departure, Angel looked up to find the others giving him admiring looks. 

"Man, you're good!" Owen told him. "I wonder if that would work for me the next time she won't leave me alone." 

Angel was saved from having to come up with any kind of response by the door opening to admit Buffy's Watcher. "I know there is still a lot left to do here, but there are other places that need your attention." Wesley was saying. "With the Hellmouth attracting monsters like flies you could spend the rest of your life here and never run out of demons to kill!" 

"So, why waste time hunting them all over the country? Why not stay right here and wait for them to come to me?" Buffy followed Wesley into the room looking like she had been crawling through some long abandoned, dusty crypt. 

"I do not appreciate this flippant attitude towards the Council's orders and your duties as the Slayer." Wesley reproved her. "We will be leaving Friday morning, and I expect you to be packed and ready to go." 

Buffy wiped a lock of hair back from her face, leaving another grimy streak on her cheek and gave Wesley a stubborn look, but remained quiet. 

"Besides," Wesley added mollified by her apparent acceptance of his authority, "this trip will give us a chance to finish your studies as laid out in the Handbook." 

Angel saw Buffy's head shoot up and her whole body tense. "I've already read through the next section on vibratious crystals." She told Wesley, the casualness in her tone belied by the sharp look she shot at him through her lowered lashes. "So we can skip that and go straight to the section on second level spell casting. Spell casting is not only more fun but also much more useful for a Slayer." 

"You may have read through it, but that doesn't mean you understood it." Wesley replied condescendingly. "There will be no half-learned lessons while I am your Watcher! There is a representative from the Council traveling all this way with a full set of those crystals, just so you can get some real life experience of their effects." 

There was a rather grim set to her mouth as she folded her arms in front of her. "How considerate," she remarked sarcastically. "And will there also be a special celebration of my 18th birthday?" 

"A special celebration? What are you talking about?" Wesley asked suddenly getting flustered. "Well, you know, candles, cake, ice cream, presents, or at least a gold star for making it to my 18th birthday at all?" Buffy gave her Watcher a bright smile. "You think there is a chance that just for once since becoming the Slayer I'll have a horror free, normal birthday?" 

If anything Wesley seemed even more flustered, looking at Buffy with something close to consternation. Slowly taking off his glasses, he finally told her somewhat uncertainly. "I am sure we will find a way to make your birthday... memorable." Rubbing her dirty hands along her arms as if she were trying to disperse a sudden chill, Buffy muttered: "Oh, and doesn't that sound promising!" 

"Yes, well." Wesley self-consciously replaced his glasses. "In the meantime let's get as much done here as we can while you're still here. Where is Mr. Giles?" With that he hastily turned away from Buffy to go in search of the librarian. 

Angel slowly stood up and walked over to where Buffy was standing. "You're leaving?" he asked her softly. 

Buffy shook herself and looked up at him. "Looks like it." she told him with a nonchalant shrug. "A Slayer seldom gets to stay in one place for very long." 

She was acting like there was nothing unusual about this particular assignment, trying to avert any further questions on his part, but Angel wasn't willing to be put off that easily. 

"Then why are you so upset about it this time?" 

Buffy gave him a sharp look. "What gives you the idea that I am upset?" 

"Hard to miss." At least it was if you found yourself watching her as closely as he did every time she was around, Angel thought to himself. 

Angel watched a myriad of expressions flit across her face, before it settled into an unreadable mask. He half expected her to tell him to mind his own business, but instead she told him slowly: "If I'm right, the Council has a rather unpleasant surprise planned for my birthday." He took in her shoulders, hunched as if she were expecting a blow, and wondered what kind of surprise she thought the Watcher's had planned for her. The Council would never do anything to endanger their most valuable fighter, would they? Unfortunately Angel had seen too much of what humans were capable of to be able to convince himself that his growing unease was unfounded. 

"I never have any nice birthdays anymore." She told him with a resigned sigh. Then he watched as a rather unpleasant smile slowly spread across her face. "Only I have no intention of walking into their trap like a good little Slayer. If they try the same thing with me, I'll be ready for them, and I'll make sure they won't be able to pull that particular stunt with any other Slayers either!" 

Angel frowned. The idea of Buffy walking into a trap, even if she did so knowingly and therefore prepared, sent a cold shiver down his back. "Let me come with you." He urged her. "I can watch your back." 

Buffy gave him a look of surprise. "Thanks, but I know what's coming, and I can handle it." 

Angel looked down at the stake in his hands, telling himself that of course she wouldn't want him along. He was a vampire, a Slayer's natural enemy. What had made him think that she would trust him at her back when she might not even be able to trust her own Watcher? 

One of her hands came to rest on his, jolting him out of his glum thoughts. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I much rather you stayed here and kept and eye on Giles and the others. I am the Slayer. I can take care of myself. They can't. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to one of them because I left them unprotected. They are the only friends I have left." 

"You're coming back?" He asked, trying not to sound to hopeful. 

"I am. With or without my Watcher." She told him simply. "Will you watch over the others until then?" 

Before he could answer, they were interrupted by Cordelia. "Buffy! Love the look." Cordelia remarked sweetly laying a possessive hand on Angel's arm. "Did you tangle with a bunch of dust devils, or is that camouflage to make it easier for you to blend in with all the other dirt bags out there at night?" 

Angel saw the hurt flash in Buffy's eyes, but couldn't think of anything to say to take the sting out of Cordelia's words. He tried to step out from under Cordelia's hand, but she just moved with him, and it was Buffy's hand that dropped. 

"Well, not everybody can afford to spend hours in front of the mirror, trying to cover up their flaws. Some of us have more important things to do." Buffy told her defensively. 

"Oh, please! It doesn't take any longer to dress with some style. All it takes is some fashion sense. Something you're totally unfamiliar with, I'm sure." Cordelia told her dismissively. 

Pressing her lips together into a thin line, Buffy spun around on her heels and disappeared down the hallway. 

"So, Angel," Cordelia turned back to him, either not noticing or simply ignoring the look of pure dislike he gave her, "my parents are throwing a party to celebrate my being named Winter Queen. Not that there was ever any doubt in the outcome, but it's nice when people show their appreciation for you by throwing a special party. And I thought that you might be glad for the chance to get to know some interesting people. And I'll be there. And if the weather's nice, we'll be having the party out in the garden, which will be good for you. You really should try to get a little more sun. That pale look went out of fashion years ago! What do you say?" 

"No thank you. I have a rather adverse reaction to sunlight," he told her with a sardonic smile. 

"What? You break out in hives or something?" Cordelia asked. 

"Or something." He told her distracted as something she had said gave him an idea of how to make Buffy feel better. "Excuse me. I have to talk to Giles and Oz about something." 

* * * * * 

Buffy finished toweling off her hair and hung the wet towel over the back of a chair in the little room Giles had given over for her use. Cordelia's remark about her lack of fashion sense had stirred up long buried memories. How often had Merrick accused her of being a pain in the butt, or complained about her letting social concerns encroach on her Slayer life? She could almost see him standing in his apartment, his hat shadowing his face, the ubiquitous handkerchief in his hand. "None of the other girls ever gave me this much trouble." He told her querulously. - "And where are they now, huh? Duh!" She had countered. 

Then there was the time after she had gone out on patrol for the first time. Merrick had as good as admitted that he thought that she was exceptionally talented, and she had refused to let his consequent call for more training put a damper on her spirits. 

"Merrick, I am not going to croak that easily." She had told him, so sure of herself. "I have something that none of the other girls had." 

"And what might that be, pray?" He had humored her. 

"My keen fashion sense!" She had told him triumphantly. 

"Oh, vampires of the world beware!" he had countered. The first time he had actually made a joke. 

But in the end her fashion sense had not been enough to save her from Lothos' attack, it had taken Merrick's breaking with established Watcher procedure, coming to her rescue and paying for it with his life. 

The memory of his death still held as much guilt and pain as it had the day he had died. 

She had just been standing there, entranced, looking at Lothos, unable to lift a hand in her own defense, as the vampire Master slowly lowered his fangs towards her neck. Merrick had come up behind Lothos, raising his dagger, ready to plunge it into the vampire's back. Lothos had leisurely turned around, covered the Watcher's hand with his own and forced Merrick to bury the dagger in his own chest instead. And she had stood and looked on and done nothing! There had been surprise in Merrick's eyes at he looked down at the dagger protruding from his chest. "Oh, look at what I have done." She remembered him lifting that damned handkerchief of his up to his lips as she caught him and lowered him to the ground. 

Lothos could have taken her then, but he had simply walked away, as disappointed in her as Merrick must have been. She remembered holding her dying Watcher in her arms, the blood dripping from one corner of his mouth as he told her: "You do everything wrong." 

It had been hard to speak through the pain clutching her throat: "I'm sorry! I take it all back..." He had interrupted her apology with a wave of his handkerchief, now spotted with blood: "No, no. Do it wrong. Don't play our game. Lothos is a show... when the music stops..." 

"The rest is silence." Buffy whispered quietly into the empty room. She had forgotten Merrick's advice. First she had gotten expelled from school for burning down the gym, then her mom had died in a car accident on the road to Sunnydale. After she finally got out of the hospital she had moved in with her father, doing what she could to keep the ever-growing vampire population in check. Three weeks later Marilyn Houser had shown up with a small group of assistant Watchers to continue her training. Then Ian had joined their little team of demon fighters. Ian with his clear blue eyes that brimmed with his barely contained joy of life. Ian with his undefeatable sense of optimism that had never failed to find something funny in even the grimmest situation. Marilyn had threatened to have him expelled from the Watcher's more than once, but not even she had been proof against his charm. 

Looking back, that had been one of the happiest times in her life as the Slayer, despite the fact that demons seemed to be multiplying like cockroaches everywhere. It had come to an abrupt end on her seventeenth birthday. 

It had been the night before her seventeenth birthday that she had come home to find her father dead on their doorstep, drained by a vampire. And as if that wouldn't have been bad enough, she had found a note tucked into his belt: 'You killed my sire, so now I killed yours. Love - Michael.' 

The guilt of knowing that her father had died because of who and what she was had almost been too much to bear. Not even Ian had been able to pull her out of it. 

It only got worse when Michael expanded his vendetta and started to go after her little group on demon fighters, eliminating them one by one. Michael could have killed her anytime he had wanted to. In the state she was in, she would have barely put up a fight. Instead he had continued to go after the people trying to protect her, knowing full well that that hurt her more then any injury he could have inflicted on her physically. 

It had taken Ian throwing himself between her and the poisonous stinger of a Scara demon to finally snap her out of her funk. She took a shaky breath and pushed the memories of his death aside. Even after all this time they were still too painful to dwell on. 

After that she had gone cold. She had pushed all feeling aside, walling herself away in a corner of her mind. She had gone hunting, and she had gotten every one of the demons in Michael's band. But she hadn't managed to kill Michael himself before he left her one last present: her dead Watcher. 

She had kept hunting him by herself for three more months after that, tracking him across five states. She had hoped that his death would ease some of the pain and guilt of having failed yet another Watcher, but there had been no satisfaction in watching him burn after she shoved him out into the sunlight, just a hollow emptiness. 

She didn't remember much about the time between Michael's death and when Wesley showed up to take over as her Watcher. She wasn't even sure how long she had been on her own, just drifting, numb. There just hadn't seemed any point left in doing anything. With everyone she had ever cared about dead, killed because of her, the last thing that had given her life purpose had gone up in flames with Michael. 

When Wesley found her, she resumed her Slayer duties at his direction. It was something to do to pass the time and trying to fight against her destiny never seemed to lead to anything but more pain. 

But she had carefully maintained her hard-won? emotional distance from everyone and everything. Better not to care. Better not to allow anyone close, so as not to get them hurt, or get hurt herself. 

She had thought herself secure behind the walls of the fortress she had built within her mind, so sure that nothing would ever get through those walls to touch her. 

Then she had found herself face to face with her mother after a misfired spell had pulled her into a parallel world, and her walls had exploded into dust like a staked vampire. 

During her time in the other Sunnydale, she had come to see just how much she had been missing, how her safe fortress had turned into a prison. Buffy had shown her that by shutting herself off, she had done what even Michael had been unable to do: she had been killing Buffy Summers. By turning herself into an unfeeling killing machine, she had been playing their game, forgetting what Merrick had told her. 

She opened the closet door and for the first time really looked at the clothes in there. The Buffy Summers of two years ago would never have worn any of them. On an impulse she pulled out the bag with the presents she had brought back from the other Sunnydale. She grinned as she pulled out the pack of clothes that had been that Cordelia's gift to her together with another pack of clothes from Buffy. She would show this Cordelia who had the superior fashion sense, and she would do it with the help of Cordy's own alter ego.

* * 6 * * 

Angel stole another quick look at the petite blonde fighting beside him and paid for it with a sore jaw as the vampire he was fighting took advantage of his momentary distraction. 

'Serves me right,' he thought wryly as he repaid his attacker in kind. 

A scream of dust told him that Buffy had dispatched another of her opponents and caused him to redouble his efforts. 

Over the last few nights they had fallen into a kind of friendly competition, with the rest of the White Hat gang cheerfully keeping score. It was strange to listen to them argue about style points. By now the gang had split into two distinct camps with Larry, Owen and Sandy cheering for Buffy, while Amy, Cordelia, and Oz declared him to be the better fighter. 

No one was in any doubt about Cordelia's reasons for championing him over Buffy, least of all Angel. But he had been surprised by Amy's and Oz' choice, especially since at least the latter was fully aware of Angel's true nature as a vampire. He had been oddly touched by their trust and been trying to do his best to justify their faith in him. 

Of course Wesley had complained bitterly about all the frivolous bantering, but even he had been impressed with their overall kill rate. Which wasn't all due solely to Angel's and Buffy's efforts. Both Larry and Oz where excellent marksmen with a bow and Owen was slowly improving as well. 

The three girls acted more in a back-up capacity, reloading crossbows, throwing Holy Water balloons (which always made a fight especially interesting for him, since they would hurt him just as much as their enemies), or, in Amy's case trying out a new spell with varying degrees of success. 

Giles did his best to try and coordinate everybody's efforts, taking their individual strengths and weaknesses into account, and juggling all the different personalities with surprising skill. Which wasn't as easy as it sounded especially once Cordelia and Wesley started to come along on a regular basis. 

Since Wesley was Buffy's official Watcher, he considered himself to be the most important member of their group. Though his efforts to take charge were generally ignored by everyone except Cordelia, who seemed the only one even marginally impressed by him, his running critique on everyone's performance was harder to ignore. He also kept complaining about Buffy's new style of dress, which, though just as practical, was a lot more flattering. 'And a lot more distracting,' Angel added to himself as he finally saw an opening to bury the stake he held in his opponent's heart. 

After a quick look around reassured him that there were no other vampires in their immediate vicinity, he allowed his attention to return to Buffy. Since this was her last night here in Sunnydale, he was trying to soak up her presence without being too obvious about it, storing the memory of her away to last him until he would see her again. 

"Is it just me, or is it unusually quiet tonight?" Buffy asked refilling her weapons belt from the store of stakes and Holy Water bottles they kept in the back of Oz' van. 

Angel shrugged as he joined her to replace his own spent arsenal. "You're right, I think I've only gotten five so far. How many did you get?" 

"Got you beat by two. My total for tonight is seven and not even a scratch to show for it!" She smiled up at him and he could stop neither his answering smile nor the warm tingle spreading through his body in response to it. 

"But your technique is getting sloppy." Wesley chimed in. "That blonde vampire would have gotten you if it hadn't been for Oz' skill with a bow. You can't rely on others to watch your back for you. A good Slayer has to be aware of everything that goes on around her at all times, and be prepared to react in an instant." 

"And so I was. I was totally aware of the fact that Oz was ready to shoot that vampire." Buffy told him. 

Wesley opened his mouth to protest, and Giles quickly broke in to prevent the argument from escalating. "Well, since it *is* quiet and you both have a long trip ahead of you, maybe we should call it a night even though it's still early. Cordelia, could you drop Wesley off? It will be hard enough to get everyone in Oz' van as it is." 

Angel watched with amusement as the Watcher immediately dropped the argument and turned to Cordelia with an almost star-struck expression on his face. 

Cordelia simply shrugged. "Sure. I have plenty of room in my car; I can take more people. How about it Angel, need a ride?" 

Angel couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit flattered by her continued efforts to attract his attention, but he was all too aware that she was only interested in him because she thought him human. She would run from him in horror or disgust if she even suspected what he really was. "No thank you. I think I'll walk. Maybe I'll run into a few more vampires and get a chance to catch up to Buffy's count." He told her politely. 

As he had half hoped Buffy immediately offered to accompany him. That should give Giles and the others enough time to get to the library ahead of them to put the finishing touches on their surprise birthday party for Buffy. Now all he had to do was get her there - and hope that she would like it. 

She had done so much for him that he had wanted to do something for her in return, and an early surprise birthday party had seemed like the perfect way to do so. But now that everything was in place he was suddenly having second thoughts. It had been so long since he had had anything to do with humans other than using them for food or entertainment. Even after having enlisted Oz' and Giles' help, he was afraid that he had gotten something wrong. 

Giles obviously had no such doubts, because he gave him an encouraging smile. "Very good. Just be careful. Just because we haven't seen that many vampires doesn't mean that they aren't out there." 

* * * * * 

Buffy threw another puzzled look at the vampire walking next to her. Something seemed to be making him uncommonly jumpy. He kept checking his pockets and fiddling nervously with the stake in his hands. 

Scanning their quiet surroundings she stretched all her senses to their limit to see if she could catch a trace of what was making him so nervous. 

It was thanks to this hyper-awareness that she noticed the shapes of several vampires shadowing them in the distance. 

"We have some company. Only they're kind of shy." She told Angel quietly. 

Angel threw her a startled glance, then instantly turned all business. "How many?" 

"Not sure, but I don't like the odds." She told him. Mindful of the need to maintain the illusion that she was unaware of the threat following them, she smiled up at her companion, hoping that he would pick up on and join in her pretense. She needn't have worried. Angel returned her smile, even as he threw a quick glance at the area ahead of them. 

"Do you think they will attack, or are they just spying on us?" He asked. 

"I hope they're just spying, but I'd rather be prepared in case they decide to do something more." She pictured the map of Sunnydale in her head. "We're pretty close to the school. Maybe we should stop by the library and stock up on some of Giles' spare weapons." 

"The library?" Angel asked startled. 

Buffy frowned. "Didn't you know that Giles is the school librarian? He keeps a good part of his books and weapons there." 

Angel shook his head and gave a bemused shrug. "The library it is." 

* * * * * 

Now that Buffy had recalled his attention to his surroundings he caught several glimpses of a vampire following them at a distance. He looked back one last time as they neared the school. He missed a step as he spotted a familiar silhouette and bumped into the Slayer just as she pulled the door open for them. 

Buffy gave him a questioning look as she put out a hand to steady him. 

"I thought I recognized one of the vampires shadowing us." Angel told her quietly. 

"Who?" Buffy wanted to know. 

"Willow." He tried to keep his voice and face expressionless, but he couldn't stop the cold shudder that ran through him at the name of the vampire that been his prime tormentor during his captivity. He tried to deflect Buffy's searching look with a self-depreciating smile, hoping that she wouldn't be able to see past it to the uneasiness twisting his gut. 

She didn't say anything more and he followed her just as wordlessly as she led the way. He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts and memories that he ran into Buffy's back when she suddenly stopped just inside the library doors. 

"Surprise!" 

He and Buffy both jumped. He had totally forgotten about the surprise birthday party. 

He saw Buffy freeze as she took in the cake and decorations, realizing that this wasn't the vampire ambush they had both been half expecting. 

"What's this?" he heard Buffy ask. 

"Since you're leaving, we thought we'd celebrate your birthday early." Oz told her. 

Angel couldn't see her face, but she must have looked less then enthused, because Giles added a bit flustered: "A-actually the whole thing was Angel's idea." 

There was a moment's silence, then she turned around to look up at him. Was she upset? He couldn't read the expression on her face. "I heard you telling Wesley that you never have any nice birthday parties anymore..." he trailed off uncertainly. 

"So you guys decided to give me one?" She looked around at the others and a smile slowly lit up her whole face then looked back at Angel. "That is so sweet!" 

A warm tingle spread through his body at the expression in her eyes, and he suddenly had to fight the impulse to lean down and capture her smiling lips with his own. He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or sorry when she removed the temptation by stepping over to the table that held the cake and presents. 

Giles gave her a fond smile. "Well, it seemed the least we could do to show you our appreciation for everything you have done for us here." 

Angel stayed by the door and watched as the others began talking excitedly, giving Buffy her presents, and cutting into the cake. He wondered what she might have wished for as she blew out the candles on her cake. It tugged on his heart to see her smiling happily, surrounded by her friends. For the first time since she had come to Sunnydale she looked like the vibrant young girl that had inspired him to try to become *someone*. He froze as he questioned his feelings for her for the first time. Could it be that he was in love with her? That he had been ever since he had seen her sitting on the steps in front of her school two years ago? 

No he wasn't. He couldn't be, he told himself firmly. He was a vampire. Vampires did not fall in love, certainly not with Slayers of all people. It was quite natural that he would want to protect her in return for her rescuing him from the Master. The tingle he felt whenever she smiled at him? Well, she was a very attractive young woman. Which was the only reason why he found himself watching her whenever she was around. It was nothing more than that, he told himself firmly. Only gratitude and the appreciation any man would feel for a beautiful girl. 

He watched as she flipped through the book that had been Owen's gift to her, then wrapped her arms around his neck and stood up on tiptoe to place a kiss on his cheek. Something uncomfortably like envy flashed through him, and he quickly looked away from the couple and out through the round windows in the library doors - and for a moment forgot to breathe. 

Shoving the confusing tangle of his feelings aside, he quickly stepped up next to Buffy. 

"I hate to spoil your party, but I think we're about to get some company." He told her quietly and quickly. "Those vampires shadowing us earlier seem to have gotten over their shyness." 

The others wasted no time on unnecessary questions. He watched them pull out whatever weapons or protection they had to hand even as a group of vampires spread out along the upper level of the library and about five more stepped through the library doors. 

Sandy, who had been standing next to her brother, pulled out a big wooden cross and waved it through the air, almost hitting the side of his face. He quickly stepped back to avoid getting burned, never taking his eyes off the vampires that were slowly spreading out to encircle their little group. As his back came up against the countertop Island he felt a sharp unease crawl along his skin setting his teeth on edge. He looked around for its source and felt his lips pull back in disgust. 

There on the countertop sat a terrarium holding those strange frogs that Cordelia had inflicted upon them every time she opened her mouth until Giles had managed to break the spell she had been under. They were climbing all over each other in their desire to get closer to him. A desire he most decidedly did not share. 

With shudder he quickly took two big steps away from them, which carried him almost to the bottom of the stairs, a little outside the tight circle the White Hats had formed. 

For a minute no one moved, then the vampires at the top of the steps parted to allow another pair to walk down the steps. 

Xander. And Willow. 

As he watched them slowly coming down the stairs towards him, Angel almost wished he were back next to the terrarium. He wasn't sure what was creepier, the frogs or the smile spreading across Willow's face as she spotted him. 

"Puppy!" She almost purred. "Willow's been so bored without you. The others all die too fast to be any fun!" 

As memories of what Willow considered to be fun crashed through his head, he decided that the frogs definitely where the lesser of two evils, but he refused to retreat or let any of his fear show on his face. 

He clenched his hands into fists at his sides to keep from moving as she stepped up to him and ran her fingers across his chest, a possessive smile on her lips. 

Before she could do anything more, Buffy interposed herself between them, a stake held ready in her right hand. With a slight pout on her face Willow slowly retreated to Xander's side, who had remained at the bottom of the stairs. 

"What do you want?" Buffy asked curtly. 

Instead of answering Willow looked around the room. "Look!" She told Xander. "A birthday party. With presents." She rubbed her head against Xander's shoulder and smiled up at him. "Do I get to pick a present?" 

" Whatever you want, Babe." Xander told her, looking at the Slayer with an expression that made Angel forget all about Willow's plans for him. 

"I want my puppy back." Willow slowly ran one hand up Xander's chest as she leered at Angel. 

"How about a different pet?" Xander suggested his eyes still locked on Buffy. "It might be even more fun to have a Slayer to play with." 

Angel felt an angry growl rising in his chest as a picture of Buffy chained in the cage at the Bronze flashed across his mind. He tried to step between Buffy and Xander but was stopped by a sharp jab of Buffy's elbow to his ribs. 

"I don't like her!" Willow stated. "I miss my puppy." 

"But he's the Slayer's pet now." Xander said with a mocking smile at Angel that only fanned his anger. "And I don't think she wants to give him back." 

"He'll come." Willow assured Xander. "To save his little human pets." The knowing smile she gave him sent a chill down Angel's back. Then Willow turned to Buffy. "And the Slayer will let him. After all, why should she care?" 

As if to confirm Willow's assessment of the situation, Buffy shot a quick look up at him then slowly stepped back, leaving him on his own. What should he do? What *could* he do? They were badly outnumbered. If it came to a fight it was more than likely that that at least some of the White Hats would die. But even if he surrendered without a fight, would that really help? 

Echoing his own thoughts Oz asked dryly: "And what guarantee do we have that you aren't going to kill us anyway?" 

"None." Willow told him with a sweet smile. "But if you don't hand him over, I will guarantee that you will all die in the most painful way possible." 

Angel could hear the White Hats shuffle around behind him, whispering quietly among themselves and felt a cold unease crawl up his back. Would they ask him to go along with Willow's bargain? And if he refused, would they knock him out and just hand him over? 

Buffy stepped up next to him, her hands hidden behind her back, but instead of providing reassurance her presence only set his teeth on edge. He had to fight to remain in place, so strong was the desire to put some distance between them. 

There was an unpleasant smile on Buffy's face as she looked at Willow. "Well, I guess, if you want to have a pet that badly..." Angel glanced down at Buffy with a sinking feeling. So, they had decided to hand him over. He took half a step back and felt his mouth drop open as he saw what Buffy was holding behind her back. At the same time Buffy told Willow sweetly: "...how about these?" 

With that she tossed the two frogs she had been holding at Xander and Willow. The other White Hats followed suit and garishly colored frogs filled the air. 

Willow had instinctively caught the frog Buffy had tossed at her, but as soon as she saw what it was she tossed it from her with a scream. 

Looking around Angel noted with grim satisfaction that the other vampires didn't like the frogs any better than he did. And once they found out that these frogs not only persisted in trying to climb up the legs of whatever vampire was closest to them but were also practically indestructible, true havoc broke out. He winced as he saw one vampire actually sink his teeth into a neon-green frog. 

Just the thought of putting one of those things in his mouth was enough to make him shudder. 

A shrill scream drew his attention back to Willow. The way she looked at the two frogs climbing up her legs while waving her arms around aimlessly and whimpering suddenly reminded him of Drusilla, an insane vampire child of his that had indulged in the same kind of fits. 

"Wow!" Buffy said beside him. "I had no idea they would be *this* effective." She looked up at him, amazement clearly written on her face. "What I said - about you having frog fear - I take it all back." 

In the meantime Xander was trying to get Willow to calm down so he could pull the frogs off of her. 

Pulling out a stake, Buffy turned to the others. "Okay, people lets clean house!" 

Hearing her, Xander swept the still whimpering Willow up in his arms and made a break for the doors. 

Pulling out a stake of his own, Angel found a frogless vampire and joined the fray. * * * * * 

Buffy looked around the library. Her birthday cake had been smashed by a vampire falling on it, and with the pieces of it that decorated the bookshelves and floor, it looked like they had had a food-fight in here. She pulled the book by Emily Dickinson that Owen had given her out of the mess on the table. It was thoroughly smeared with cake and vampire dust. She wiped off the worst of it and wrapped it in some paper before she added it to the bag holding her other presents. 

"I am sorry your party got ruined." She looked up to see Angel standing beside her. 

Sweeping the remains of the cake into a wastebasket she shrugged. "Actually as birthday parties go, this one really wasn't all that bad. No one died, and watching all those vampires freak from the frogs was rather funny." She looked over at the terrarium holding the few remaining frogs and couldn't help smiling. "We didn't get all of them back. You think Willow will keep the others as pets?" 

"Somehow I doubt that." Angel told her with a ghostlike smile. "She didn't seem to like them much." 

Buffy nodded in satisfaction. "Maybe that will cure her of her obsession with keeping pets." 

"Maybe." He said noncommittally. 

Buffy remembered how she had found him chained in the basement of the Bronze and wondered what he must have had to put up with as Willow's "pet."

Angel broke into her thoughts speaking hesitantly. "I got you something - for your birthday." He had a little square box that he kept turning around nervously in his hands. "It's not much, but I thought maybe..." Then he took a deep breath and held the box out to her. "You can give it to someone else it you don't like it." 

Curious she took the box and opened it slowly. Inside she found a finely wrought choker made from crosses strung together bordered at the top and bottom by tiny, different colored stones. She held it up and admired the way it sparkled in the light. 

"It's beautiful." she told him, and watched his anxious expression melt into a relieved smile. 

"It's extra strong, so it shouldn't be easy to rip off, and those stones were believed to bring good fortune and health to the wearer." He explained almost shyly. "It might help keep you safe and bring you luck in your confrontation with the Watchers." 

She frowned at this reminder of what the Watchers might have planned for her upcoming birthday. If it hadn't been her other self that had warned her, she would never have believed it. "I am still hoping that I am wrong about that." She told Angel as she fastened the choker around her neck. "But there is no such thing as having too much protection. Thank you." 

"No, thank you!" Angel told her seriously, and Buffy was disconcerted to find herself blushing under his gaze. Feeling a bit flustered, she looked down at her hands, and not knowing how to respond, she decided to change the subject. "The sun will be up soon. If you don't get going you'll be stuck here all day." 

He nodded and slowly turned to leave. 

At the door he turned to look at her one last time. Their eyes met and she thought she heard him say, "Be safe." Then the doors swung closed, hiding him from view. 

She lifted a hand to touch the choker around her throat wondering at the strangeness of a vampire giving a cross-necklace as a present, before she turned back to help finish cleaning up the library. 


	3. A Matter Of Trust

A Matter of Trust

Wishverse Chapter 3

Disclaimer: All the characters in this story are a part of Joss Whedon's "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" no infringement on anyone's rights was intended by borrowing them for this story.

Author's Note: It's not really necessary to have read the first two chapters of the Wishverse to understand this story. All you really need to know that this is set in the Universe first introduced by the third season Episode "The Wish". In the first chapter "Doppelganged Again" the Wishverse Buffy got drawn into the regular Buffyverse when Anyanka made another try to retrieve her necklace (set after "Doppelgangland" but before "Enemies"). Because of her stay there the fight at the end of "The Wish" ended with the Master's death, while Buffy and Angel both survived.

The only other fact you need to know to understand this story is that the Buffyverse Buffy not only filled her counterpart in on everything that had happened to her since coming to Sunnydale (which was the point where the two universes divided), but also warned her about the Cruciamentum.

* * 1 * *

Wesley Wyndham-Price threw another look at the young girl occupying the passenger seat of the black mini-van he was driving.

Six months since he had found her living on the streets of Philadelphia, dirty and undernourished. Nine months since her second Watcher had been killed and the Council had lost any contact with the current Slayer.

At first his report that he had found the missing Slayer had been dismissed out of hand. Most of the Council members were sure that she must have been killed, out there alone without a Watcher's guidance. But none of the carefully guarded potential Slayers had manifested the powers that would have been proof positive of the previous Slayer's death.

They had waited over a month before the Council had authorized him to become the girl's Watcher. More, he suspected, to put an end to his endless calls on her behalf, than because they truly believed that he had indeed found the lost Slayer.

That changed after Buffy cleared out the big group of vampires that had made the New York subway system their home, and did so under the very eyes of a couple of members of the Watcher's Council.

After that he had been sent weapons, money, and orders for the Slayer to go to Washington, D.C. to help the group of demon fighters there.

Unfortunately that mission hadn't gone nearly as well.

To his relief the Slayer had heeded his orders and listened impassively as the Council reprimanded her for her failure to protect the land's highest official. He had been afraid that she would repeat her preposterous claim that the President had been there as the demons' guest, and had been killed when the dark ritual he had been participating in had backfired because of the Slayer's interference.

It was bad enough that she had been unable to rescue the man from the demons' clutches, there was no need to drag a dead man's reputation into the dirt to make herself look better.

That incident had earned him his first lecture by Mr. Travers on his duties and responsibilities as the Slayer's Watcher.

"I know you are at a disadvantage because Ms. Summers was not properly prepared before being called as the Slayer," Travers had assured him, "and I am sure that a lot of the discipline that Ms Houser managed to instill in her was lost over the three months she spent without proper supervision. But I can't stress enough how vitally important it is that a Watcher be in *full* control of his Slayer at all times. Her enhanced abilities make the Slayer into a lethal weapon. That makes her most effective in our fight against the minions of hell, but that very effectiveness is why she *must* be kept under the tightest control at all times."

With that, he handed Wesley an old, handwritten book. "What is contained in this book isn't general knowledge, and for good reason. It chronicles the last days of Maria Montgarret and shows all too clearly the devastating destruction that an out-of-control Slayer is capable of."

"But I thought Maria Montgarret died from the poisonous sting of a Manticore?" Wesley asked a bit surprised.

Travers gave him a ponderous nod. "It is true that Maria was stung by a Manticore in Morocco, but what is not mentioned in the official chronicles is that while the poison will kill a regular human within a matter of hours, it affects a Slayer a bit differently. Maria cut a bloody swath across Tangier, and even managed to cross into Spain before she was finally brought down by a group of twenty-five Watchers. Only two of them survived."

"But if her behavior resulted from the Manticore poison..." Wesley objected.

"Yes, that is why it was left out of the official chronicles. No one knew that the poison would affect a Slayer in this way. Stanton Hurst was an exceptionally dedicated Watcher. So as not to blemish his sterling reputation, the Council chose to keep the details from general knowledge, only adding the stricture that any Slayer stung by a Manticore is to be killed instantly, so as to prevent future Watchers from repeating Hurst's mistake." Travers told him. "But it illustrates quite clearly what an out of control Slayer is capable of. A Slayer *has* to be kept under control for her own good as well as that of the rest of the world."

It had made perfect sense. He only had to remember the way Buffy had been living when he had found her. A Slayer clearly needed a Watcher's strict guidance, and her Watcher could never let himself forget that this was not a regular human being with whom he was dealing. She was a Slayer. She couldn't be expected to react the same as regular humans, and so couldn't be treated as one.

In the beginning it had been easy enough to see her as nothing but a weapon to use in the fight against the demons threatening to overrun the world. With the way she had refused to talk about anything but the next night's slayage, had never shown any emotions when confronted with one of the demons' human victims, she had seemed barely human anyway.

But the last couple of weeks in Sunnydale had made him look at Buffy Summers differently, and he still wasn't exactly sure how or why.

It had all started with a late night phone call from Mr. Giles, who had been fired from the Watchers years ago for letting his over-active imagination run away with him. His clearly exaggerated reports of what was happening in the town he had been stationed at had been a running joke at Council Headquarters, together with the fact that he kept filing them for months after having been officially terminated as a member.

Wesley and the leader of the newly arrived Watcher Swat Team had had a few good laughs at Giles' expense while they were packing for their move to Cleveland. He hadn't even noticed Buffy's absence until they were about to leave and she was nowhere to be found. He had sent the Team ahead while he tracked his Slayer to Sunnydale.

He had never intended for them to stay there, but the Team had successfully taken care of the Cleveland problem, and to his surprise he had found that the situation in Sunnydale was every bit as bad as Mr. Giles had painted it in his reports. He really couldn't fault Buffy for wanting to stay. She was the Slayer; she couldn't very well turn her back on that many demons. And the Council had agreed that ordering her to ignore such a nest of demons would be detrimental to the Slayer's discipline. But they had told him to make sure that she had no contact with Mr. Giles.

That had proved not only impractical but downright impossible. And now he suddenly had a totally different Slayer to deal with.

He had once read a story about a statue coming to life, and as fanciful as that idea sounded in his own ears, that was exactly what had happened to Buffy during their short stay with the Sunnydale White Hats.

It wasn't so much her sudden change in her style of clothing. She still looked the same, right down to the last scar. Her powers and fighting style were the same, but suddenly she moved with a new energy, and a new life had replaced the dead look in her eyes.

She had also become rather headstrong. As often as not, she simply ignored his orders, undermining his authority as the leader of their little group to the point where the others had begun to follow her example.

She made jokes; she smiled. He could swear he had even seen her blush once or twice when one of the others had complimented her on her style of dress or the way she had dealt with one of her opponents.

He was worried how the Council representatives would react to these changes in his Slayer just when they had come to witness the rite of passage given to all Slayers on the occasion of their 18th birthday.

It did nothing to ease his mind that Buffy seemed to have had some warning premonitions this trip to Franton. Her hints of poisons and having to face an enemy much stronger then herself had unsettled him enough that he had made a special inquiry to the Watcher's Council.

He had been told that Franton had been picked precisely because it was one of the few demon free places left in California. Mr. Travers himself would be present to make sure that everything proceeded according to plan, so if his Slayer was really as good as he reported her to be, he had no reason to worry about her.

Checking the map one last time, he turned off the paved road and onto a little used track that led up towards an out-of-the-way valley in the mountains to the east of Sunnydale.

As they neared Franton, he noticed numerous deserted houses along the road. If demons avoided this valley, why hadn't it turned into a refuge for humans? 

He was beginning to get as bad a feeling about this as Buffy, who had been sitting beside him in grim silence ever since they had left Sunnydale.

* * 2 * *

Buffy watched Wesley as he nervously rearranged the crystals sitting on the table between them.

"So, what's the big emergency? They not only called us away from a place overrun by demons but flew in a bunch of Watchers directly from England, as well. Must be pretty desperate." Buffy waited, curious to hear his answer.

"I don't know the specifics yet." Wesley answered her slowly, playing with an oddly shaped piece of rose quartz.

"Well, don't you think it strange that all the people that used to live here suddenly decided to pack up and leave? There has to be some kind of record somewhere of what happened here. You would think that with all the Watchers here someone would have found out by now?" Buffy asked him innocently.

Wesley frowned and put down the rose quartz. "It isn't the Slayer's place to question the Council. Now, you see this crystal here? Look for the flaw at its center."

Buffy pretended to concentrate on the bright blue crystal while carefully focusing her eyes on a spot on the table just in front of it.

"Last night on patrol, I came across several human skeletons. Looked like they killed each other." Buffy told him.

"Skeletons? Where?" Wesley asked alarmed.

"On the farm just north of town. There were animal skeletons as well. A bunch of dead chickens in the chicken coop and what looked like a couple of dogs, one out in the yard, the other in the house next to one of the dead humans. Nothing that looked like the remains of a demon though." Buffy told him. "And a lot of the houses in town show signs of a fight. You know, broken furniture, discarded weapons and the occasional dried up blood satins - no more skeletons though."

Wesley opened and closed his mouth several times but remained silent, a stunned expression spreading across his face.

"You didn't know?" Buffy asked.

"I - I -" Wesley stuttered. "I - did you tell Mr. Travers about this?"

Buffy shook her head. "A Slayer reports to and takes orders from her Watcher only." Buffy quoted the Slayer's Handbook to him. "But they would have to know about it, don't you think? Why else would we've been called here?"

Buffy waited expectantly for his answer, but Wesley only ran one hand through his hair distractedly.

"Let's leave this for now." He said gesturing at the crystals. "This may well be more important."

On his way to the door he turned and added almost as an afterthought: "Why don't you make another sweep of the valley, see what else you can find. - Make sure to take some weapons, and be careful. We don't know *what* might be out there!"

Buffy watched him thoughtfully as the door closed behind him. Wesley had seemed almost relieved that their lesson had been interrupted. Mr. Giles, her alter ego's Watcher, had rebelled against the Council over the Cruciamentum. Dare she hope that Wesley would actually stand up for her to the Council in this matter?

* * *

Buffy followed a narrow path that led higher into the mountains, driven by the feeling that there was someplace she needed to be and that time was running short. Twilight was beginning to settle over the valley when she spotted the warm light of a fire flickering in the distance. For a moment she stood, undecided.

The cold, rational part of her mind told her that it was getting late, she should be making her way back to the village while there was still enough light to navigate the ravine she had climbed to get here.

Yet even as she thought that, she started to work her way closer to the light, drawn to it by a power she could not name. 'I should be worried about this.' She thought. But her finely honed Slayer sense for danger stayed quiet, and she was curious as to what she would find.

What she found was an old woman hunched over a small fire in front of the door of a little cottage. She was swathed in an assortment of brightly colored scarves that swayed gently as she rocked to the rhythm of her chant. The fire's light danced over her deep brown face, throwing the wrinkles covering her face into deep relief as she added another handful of herbs to the fire.

An aromatic cloud of smoke drifted in Buffy's direction and wrapped itself around her senses. She found herself sitting across from the woman without any memory of having crossed the intervening space.

The woman regarded her silently for a long time. Then she lifted a bundle made from feathers, sticks, herbs and animal hair and held it up in front of Buffy's face.

"I welcome you in the name of Hepheistos, the forger of chains. Take your place as the new Guardian of the seal." With that she laid the bundle into Buffy's lap. Then she dipped the first finger of her right hand into a little pot and leaned forward to draw a symbol in the middle of Buffy's forehead.

"Metis, mother of wisdom, take this child under the mantel of your protection and grant her the clarity to pierce the veils set to cloud her vision."

Next she picked up a bronze medallion strung on an intricately woven band that shimmered with all the colors of the fire and dipped it into a pitcher resting on a flat stone beside her. When she pulled it back out, Buffy saw that one side showed the picture of a flaming mountain, while the other depicted a hammer striking at chains.

"Hepheistos, accept this child in my place as the Guardian of the chains forged by your hand." With that she hung the medal around Buffy's neck and tucked it inside her shirt.

Still unable to do more then observe, Buffy watched her unfold her legs and slowly lever herself to her feet. She picked up the pitcher sitting on the flat stone and brushed some of the liquid on Buffy's forehead, then poured the rest of its contents over the fire.

"Hepheistos seal this pact with your fire!" the old woman shouted.

The fire shot up in a wall of flame and Buffy screamed as the symbol on her forehead and the medallion around her neck seemed to erupt with a fire of their own. Then she pitched forward into darkness.

* * *

Buffy woke slowly, shivering from the dew that coated her body, stiff and sore from having spent the night laying on the bare ground. With a groan she pushed herself up into a sitting position and surveyed her surroundings.

The first thing that caught her eye was the lifeless body of the old woman beside the remains of the fire. Next to her rested a broken pitcher and an open box painted with various symbols and pictures.

As she got to her feet to check on the woman, a bundle of sticks and herbs tumbled from her lap. She reached for it as something close to panic lanced through her and caught it before it could land on the ground.

What had happened here? She turned the bundle in her hands, careful not to disturb its delicate structure. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but she knew that it was important that it be kept safe. Her eyes fell on the open box. It was lined with soft cotton and just the right size to accommodate the bundle.

Buffy put the bundle inside and closed the lid, then turned the box to look at the pictures on it. The bottom of it was covered with painted flames that licked up the sides on which people were fighting each other. In several places chains wrought of fire wrapped up and over the lid. On the lid itself she found the crude painting of a monster held captive by the chains of fire.

It had a vaguely human shaped head except for a huge mouth holding a series of shark-like teeth. Four clawed feet were gouging deep furrows into the ground beneath it and its back seemed to be covered by a ragged black blanket while a scorpion-like tail arched up above it.

Setting the box aside, she knelt down beside the old woman. She had seen enough death in her time as the Slayer to know that she had died hours ago.

Buffy looked up at the sunshine slowly working its way down the side of the valley. She had been gone since yesterday afternoon. She really should get back, but she couldn't just leave the woman laying out here in the open. She entered the cottage to look for some means to bury the old woman, her thoughts once again returning to the situation that might be waiting for her in Franton.

Even after Wesley had told her to look for the flaw in the blue crystal, she still found herself reluctant to believe the rest of what the other Buffy had told.

They wouldn't really put her through a ritual as senseless as the Cruciamentum appeared to be, would they?

Of course they wouldn't, she told herself firmly.

But then why did she feel like she was digging her own grave as she threw shovel after shovel full of dirt to the side?

* * * * *

Wesley was pacing the floor of the common room of the little boarding house the Watchers had taken for their own use.

Where was Buffy? How could she pick this time of all possible times to pull one of her unannounced disappearing acts?

He stepped over to the table and nervously leafed through the pages of the hand-written diary he had found in one of the houses. The tale it told of neighbors turning on one another as if possessed sent a chill down his back.

Had he been right to conceal Buffy's prolonged absence from the rest of the Watchers? What if something had happened to Buffy out there on patrol? He was only glad that he hadn't gotten the chance to inject Buffy with the compound designed to strip her of her powers. Whatever she had run into out there, at least she had all her Slayer powers at full strength to allow her to deal with it.

He turned around at the sound of the door opening, but it was only Quentin Travers.

"So, Mr. Wyndham-Price, where is your Slayer?" He asked with a disapproving expression on his face.

"She should be back from her patrol already." Wesley answered worriedly. "I told you about the skeletons she found on that farm and what is written here in this diary. What if whatever caused all this slaughter is still out there..."

"Calm yourself, Mr. Wyndham-Price. The Council looked this place over quite thoroughly before we chose it as the site for the Slayer's Rite of Passage. What ever attacked the village three years ago is long gone." Travers told him with absolute certainty.

"Well, if the monster is no longer here, where did it go? These things don't just cease to prey on humans or disappear, and if it had been killed, wouldn't word of that have reached the Council?" Wesley countered.

"I can assure you that there is no sign of a monster anywhere in this valley!" Travers repeated firmly. "You should be concentrating on preparing the slayer for the Cruciamentum, as is your duty as Watcher, and trust us to handle the rest."

Before either of them could say anything more, the door opened to admit a dirty and exhausted looking Buffy. Without a word she walked in and set a crudely painted box on the table in front of them.

"I think there may be a monster laying chained up somewhere in this valley." She told them in a tired voice. "And I think I have just become its guardian."

* * 3 * *

"What kind of a monster? Did you see it?" Wesley asked her.

Buffy shook her head. "No, but I met this woman..."

Wesley listened as Buffy described what had happened to her since she had left him the previous day.

"You said she called on Hepheistos and Metis?" He asked her after she had finished.

Travers waved Buffy off impatiently. "I don't think that there is any need to spend time on this. Mr. Wyndham-Price found a diary detailing how several of the people that used to live here went insane and turned on their neighbors. I have no doubt that this old woman was a victim of whatever malady swept through this valley three years ago."

"But all the other victims died with in the span of a single day after going berserk." Wesley objected. "How could this woman have survived for this long?"

"You found a diary of what happened here?" Buffy wanted to know, but Travers again headed off any further discussion.

"If she were the only one left behind, there would have been no one left to kill her." He stated calmly.

Wesley opened his mouth to protest. Not all of the possessed people had been killed by their neighbors. The local sheriff had managed to lock a couple of them up before the problem became too widespread. They had died an agonizingly slow and painful death in their cells, none of them living for more than a day.

Travers cut him off before he could speak. "I suggest that you concentrate on completing your Slayer's instruction in the properties and magical uses of the crystals we brought here from England. They need to be returned to the safety of the Council Headquarters as soon as possible. We can't chance them falling into the hands of some demon. Some of these are precious one of a kind specimens which could do incalculable damage if they should fall into the wrong hands."

Wesley looked over at Buffy as she let out an unladylike snort at Travers words. He caught a glimpse of grim amusement on her face before her usual mask of indifference dropped back into place.

"Can I at least take a shower and change first?" Buffy's stomach rumbled loudly and she added: "And grab something to eat."

Without waiting for either of them to give her permission, she simply turned and walked out the door.

Wesley watched as Travers shook his head sadly. "It is a shame to see what neglect has done to her. This just illustrates once again how important it is for the Council to identify potential Slayers at the earliest possible age and see to it that they are properly prepared for their future duty."

"Buffy Summers may not be a model Handbook-Slayer, but she is nevertheless truly dedicated to her duties and may well be one of the most effective Slayers the Council has ever seen..." Wesley felt compelled to defend her.

Travers huffed impatiently: "She is about as far from being a model Slayer as you can get. Just look at the way she chooses to dress! Her attitude is just short of disrespectful, and she is sadly lacking in discipline. That she has survived this long is due mostly to luck and the quality of the team her former Watcher assembled to support her. You've read the report of how they sacrificed themselves to keep her alive. They pampered her. I only hope that you have been able to reverse enough of the damage to let her pass the upcoming test."

Wesley thought of the vampire boxed up and waiting to be released so he could hunt a weakened Slayer and felt a cold shiver run down his back.

"Is this test really necessary? It seems so - barbaric." He asked Travers. 

"It is a time-honored tradition. If she is truly as remarkable as you claim her to be, she should have no problems with Kralick. And she will be the stronger for having passed it." Travers assured him. "Now how far have you progressed with your preparation of the Slayer?"

"There is a problem." Wesley admitted reluctantly. "The blue crystal doesn't seem to have any kind of effect on her. Before she left to go on patrol yesterday, she looked at it for several minutes, and showed absolutely no signs of being entranced by it."

Travers heaved a disappointed sigh. "Have you considered that you might somehow be sabotaging the lesson yourself? You can't allow any fondness you may have developed for your charge to blind you to your duties. If you prove yourself unequal to the task, you will have failed the Council as well as your Slayer."

With that he left Wesley alone.

For several moments Wesley just stared at the closed door, then he slowly sank down into the chair in front of the table. His duty to the Council and his Slayer. Always before, it had been so easy to see where his duty lay. He had never felt the slightest compunction about sending Buffy up against the demons and monsters that could be found everywhere. One single vampire was nothing compared to what she had faced and overcome in the past, even if she had to face this one without her enhanced Slayer powers.

So why did this coming test feel so uncomfortably like betrayal to him?

His eyes fell on the painted box still sitting where Buffy had left it. Trying to ignore the hollow feeling in his stomach, he pulled it closer and opened it.

Inside lay a delicate construct of herbs, sticks, and feathers and animal hair, carefully held together by a multicolored thread. As he picked it up to take a closer look, he saw that what he had taken to be feathers were in reality strangely colored scales.

He tugged one of them free before replacing the bundle and closing the lid of the box. This certainly didn't look like it had come from any animal he had ever heard of. And if, as he suspected, it was of demonic origin, it might shed further light on what had happened to turn Franton into a ghost town.

He headed out of the room to consult with the other Watchers present on how best to determine what kind of creature this scale had come from, glad to have something to think about besides the Cruciamentum.

* * * * *

In the dark recesses of the abandoned feed-mill two yellow eyes glowed like two dim lights as the creature trapped in one of its empty grain bins strained against the invisible bonds holding it. Its long scaly tail whipped free, but even though it strained until the coarse yellow fur covering the rest of its body stood out in wild spikes, it was unable to break free.

Finally it settled back down to wait. The first of its bindings had been broken. It was only a matter of time before it would be free to spread its terror once again. Its long black tongue darted out to taste the air. Humans had once again come into this valley. After three long years of subsisting on nothing but the short-lived fears of rabbits and other animals, it longed for the rich bouquet of human fear and terror. None of the humans here emitted any of the fear it needed to sustain itself, but that would change soon enough once it got free. A drop of yellow venom dripped from the stinger at the end of its tail as it slowly snaked through the air in anticipation of the feast to come.

* * * * *

Again Buffy sat in front of the table in the common room, carefully *not* focusing on the blue crystal she was almost looking at, as Wesley continued his lesson.

"Now this crystal can be an invaluable help in expanding a Slayer's perceptions." Wesley was saying.

'No kidding!' Buffy barely kept herself from grimacing. It had certainly expanded her perception of the Watchers and her standing with them. She wondered how long they would keep repeating this step before they'd give up. Maybe she should just get it over with and simply smash the thing so it couldn't be used on any future Slayers. But that would lead to endless explanations and accusations that she was in no mood for.

She heard the door open and looked up to see Quentin Travers entering the room carrying a cup of steaming tea in his hand.

"So, how are the lessons going?" Was there an edge to his voice as he asked that question?

"I was just explaining the beneficial effects of meditation and how this crystal in particular can aid in achieving it." Wesley gestured at the blue crystal sitting in front of Buffy.

Turning to Buffy Travers took a sip of his tea. "And have you been able to find the flaw in this crystal?"

"Yeah, and it seems an unusually big flaw, too." Buffy answered giving him her sweetest smile.

"Big?" Travers' teacup stopped halfway to his mouth. "What did it look like?"

Now what? There was no way she was actually going to look for it. Think fast, Buffy. The shape of the flaw was supposed to hold a special significance for the Slayer. "It is kind of shaped like..." What would be a symbol that could represent the Slayer? "...like a girl! Yeah, a young girl holding a stake."

"A girl?" Travers asked taken aback, then began muttering under his breath. "I wonder if it could have gotten cracked during transport somehow?"

Buffy was beginning to enjoy herself. "Yeah, a girl, and a really pretty one at that." She threw a calculating look up at the older man. Could she get *him* to look into the crystal? "Not that I would ever walk around half undressed like that."

That did it. Travers picked up the crystal while Wesley crowded in close beside him so he could get a look at the crystal's flaw himself.

"You see the way she has her hip cocked? She doesn't so much look like a Slayer than a hooker!" But even as she said that she noticed their bodies stiffening and their expressions going slack.

Buffy stood up and waved her hands. "Hello?"

No reaction from either of them. Their eyes remained fixed on the crystal. "Cool."

She wondered if this worked like hypnosis where you could tell people to do almost anything. Now what would be a good hypnotic suggestion? She was tempted to tell them to quack like a duck once they woke back up, especially Travers, but Wesley hadn't really been a bad Watcher except for going along with Travers and the Council on this.

Her eyes fell on Travers' teacup. "You detest tea." she told them with a smile. "It is absolutely the vilest beverage you have ever been asked to drink."

Fun and fairly harmless, but not very useful. How about 'Buffy Summers is the best Slayer you have ever seen and you will do whatever she tells you?' Buffy grimaced. Tempting, but somehow it left a bad taste in her mouth.

"You will never put another Slayer through this Crucial - whatever test." she told them. That seemed safe enough.

She was trying to think of what else she might tell them to do when the door opened to admit Dr. Warren, the oldest member of the Watcher team here and his young assistant Gary Barker.

"Where did you get this scale, Wesley?" He asked as he entered. "Do you know what this is?" Then he noticed the unnatural stillness of the two men standing by the table. "What is this?" He demanded.

Buffy shrugged trying to look as innocently as possible. "I don't know, one moment we were talking and the next..."

Dr. Warren stepped up to them and waved his hand between them and the crystal, trying to break their gaze. After a moment Wesley blinked and staggered back, but Travers remained locked rigidly in place, staring at the crystal.

Gary caught Wesley's elbow and helped him to sit down at the table. Buffy watched with interest as Gary picked up Travers' tea and offered it to Wesley. To her disappointment Wesley accepted it and began to sip from it gratefully.

So much for her post-hypnotic suggestions.

"What happened here?" Dr. Warren wanted to know as he unsuccessfully tried to pry Travers' fingers off the crystal.

"I'm - not sure." Wesley stammered. "I was telling Buffy about these crystals and Mr. Travers came in. After that - I'm not sure what happened."

"Buffy?"

"Travers wanted to check that the crystal hadn't somehow been damaged during its trip here. He picked it up and then..." Buffy gestured at Travers' unmoving form and shrugged.

"Damn fool thing to do." Dr. Warren muttered. "Gary, come over here and help me get the crystal away from him. And be careful not to look at it directly."

Buffy watched their futile efforts for a few moments, then decided to help.

"You two hold him, I'll pull the crystal loose."

As soon as they had wrapped their arms around Travers' torso and braced themselves, Buffy wedged her fingers between the crystal and Travers' hand and pulled. The crystal popped free and Buffy stumbled back.

"He's still not moving." She heard Gary say, but his voice seemed to come from very far away.

The crystal in her hand was pulling at her, trying to swallow her up. It felt almost like a live thing pulling at her. Taking a deep breath she spun around as fast as she could and forced her fingers open, sending the crystal flying.

A dead silence settled over the room as the crystal impacted with the wall and disintegrated in a rain of shards.

Then Travers collapsed into a boneless heap.

* * * * *

Wesley watched two Watchers carry Travers flaccid body out of the room, gratefully accepting a fresh cup of tea from Gary.

"Why in the world did you smash that crystal, young lady? Do you have any idea of its value to the Watchers Council?" Dr. Warren was asking Buffy.

Buffy shrugged and answered easily enough. "One way to break a witch's spells is by cutting off her head. I figured breaking the crystal would achieve the same effect." Did she seem dazed or was that just an aftereffect of her own exposure to the crystal?

"Yes, well, it certainly released Travers from its hold." Warren conceded grudgingly. "But you should not have taken such a irreversible action without a direct order from your Watcher, young lady. Hasn't Wesley taught you anything?"

Buffy remained silent, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she leaned against the wall. After a moment Warren turned away from her with a sigh and came over to speak to Wesley.

"What's done is done. The reason I came to see you, Wesley, is this scale you gave me. Where did you get it? We have narrowed it down to five different demons it could have come from. Was there anything else that would let us narrow it down a bit more?" he asked as he sat down across from Gary and picked up a cup of tea of his own.

"It came from the bundle in this box." Wesley answered gesturing towards the painted box sitting on the table.

Dr. Warren took one look at the picture painted on the lid of the box and went white. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "I guess we know what killed all the people here. I was afraid of this. Was there any coarse yellow fur in there with it?"

Wesley watched him with a frown. "There is hair in that bundle but it is so wrapped around with herbs and string it is hard to say what type it is."

"Where did this box come from?" Dr. Warren asked taking a steadying sip of tea.

Wesley was so involved in repeating Buffy's story that he didn't notice that Gary had taken the bundle out of the box and was trying to pull one of the hairs free until he was interrupted by a shout form Buffy.

"No, don't touch that!" Buffy had pushed herself off the wall and was lunging towards Gary, but he had already pulled one of the hairs free.

Buffy froze, one hand clutching at the medallion the old woman had given her, the other hand covering her forehead. "Oh god, it's going to break free! I have to stop it!" With that she spun and ran out of the door.

"Stop what?" Wesley demanded of Dr. Warren. "What is breaking free?"

Dr. Warren reached for the yellow hair in Gary's hand and turned it between his fingers. He closed his eyes and sank back in his chair letting the hair drop from his fingers. "I was hoping so much that I was wrong. Oh god."

"What? What is it?" Wesley was just about ready to shake the old man.

"A Manticore."

* * 4 * *

Wesley shot up out of his chair. "We have to warn Buffy to stay away from that thing! If she gets stung..."

The thought of Maria Montgarret and the mutilated corpses that had littered her path sent a chill down his back.

"She will have to be neutralized." Warren finished his sentence for him. "Gary, find the others. Tell them to break out the artillery and get ready."

"What?" Wesley stammered. "She hasn't been stung yet! All we need to do is keep her away from the Manticore and send a Swat Team after it instead!"

"It's almost impossible for regular humans to kill a Manticore." Warren explained patiently. "It clouds their minds and stings them before they even knows it is there, and once stung... Well, you know what happened here in Franton."

Warren shook his head regretfully. "No, our best chance to eliminate this thing lies with the Slayer."

But what if Buffy got stung and had to be killed? Without his Slayer what would become of him? Wesley desperately tried to think of another solution.

"What about this spell?" He gestured at the bundle of sticks. "Surely if some old lady could do it, you can reinstate the binding?"

Warren ran a hand across his face, then leaned forward to inspect the bundle. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this. I wonder if she was a Native American?"

"She invoked Metis and Hepheistos." Wesley pointed out to him.

"Greek gods. Metis was the mother of Athena, and Hepheistos was the Forger, the smith of the gods..." Warren muttered to himself. "If I unravel it, that might tell me how it was done."

"But won't that free the Manticore all together?" Wesley asked alarmed. 

"I doubt the spell will hold it much longer now that it has been disturbed." Warren shrugged. "And if the Slayer should prove unable to kill it, this might give us a way of dealing with it. Though probably not before it manages to get us to kill each other. I'll work on it, but in the meantime we must hope that the Slayer will be able to kill it - and be ready to deal with the Slayer afterwards."

"Why are you so sure she'll need to be killed?" Wesley was getting desperate. He couldn't lose his Slayer; he couldn't go back to being a nobody!

"She wont even know that it is there until after it stings her. A Manticore can cloud a Slayer's mind as well as anybody else's. The good news is that a Slayer's unique metabolism will reduce the poison's effectiveness enough that, with any luck, she will be able to kill the Manticore before succumbing to it." Warren closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. "The bad news is that for that same reason the poison won't kill her, only turn her into an insane killing machine that has to be stopped."

"What about an antidote?" Wesley was grasping at straws now.

"There is no antidote." The look he gave Wesley was not unsympathetic. "It's always hard losing a Slayer, especially to poison. My Helen got stung by a Sacra-demon demon. It was horrible to watch her suffer, not being able to help. - In a way I envy you. At least you will be allowed to end her suffering and give her a clean, humane death."

* * * * *

Buffy prowled the streets of Franton in search of the place where the monster lay bound. She was carrying a long bladed spear and had her double-barrel crossbow slung over her shoulder. If she could just find the monster before it broke free completely, it shouldn't be all that hard to kill.

But even as she thought that, she could feel some fool systematically unraveling the remaining bindings. Cursing up a blue streak she surveyed her surroundings.

She was in front of the old feed mill almost at the opposite end of town from the boarding house; she'd never get back there in time to stop them from freeing the monster.

'Those fools! I should never have left that box with them.' But she had trusted that Dr. Warren at least would have enough sense to keep anyone from messing with it. Were they *trying* to kill her?

That last thought froze her in her tracks and sent a cold shiver down her back. She *had* made it impossible for them to go through with their stupid test. Was this their revenge for breaking the crystal?

Suddenly the symbol on her forehead came to fiery life, jolting her out of her thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the shadow of a movement and reflex took over. She was rolling out of the way before her brain registered that it was a long, scaly tail with a stinger on its end that she was dodging.

Dropping her spear, she aimed her crossbow and fired both bolts in quick succession.

She was rewarded by a scream of rage and for a moment she got a clear view of her opponent. It was the monster from the box, except that what she had taken for a black blanket covering its back turned out to be a pair of bat-like wings instead.

Its tail darted out again. Buffy ducked, but even as she took a swipe at it with her spear, its outline began to blur. It didn't disappear altogether, but between the wind from its wings as it launched itself into the air and the tears brought to her eyes by the burning of the symbol on her forehead, it was impossible to make it out clearly.

It dove for her and Buffy stabbed upwards with her spear, only to have it rip the spear from her grip. Looking around for some way to neutralize its aerial advantage, Buffy spotted an old barn with its doors gaping open.

With the monster in hot pursuit, Buffy threw herself through the doors and grabbed the first thing that came to her hands. A pitch fork. Balancing it like a javelin, she hurled it into the middle of the dust cloud stirred up by the creatures uncontrolled landing in the barn. There was an agonized scream, and its outline became clearly visible once more.

Red foam was dripping from its shark-like teeth as it hissed at Buffy. Its long scaly tail hovered overhead, greenish-yellow liquid dripping from the stinger at its end.

Looking around for another weapon, Buffy spotted a scythe hanging on the wall. She jumped for it and was able to swing it around just as the tail darted in towards her back. She managed to cut clean through it but was unable to avoid the falling end completely, and its stinger tore a gash along her left arm. Ignoring the burning pain, Buffy swung the scythe around again, this time catching one of its wings.

The thing threw back its head to scream, and Buffy jumped in to hack at its neck. The scream ended in a bloody gurgle. One of its claws darted out to grab her. Buffy stumbled back, scythe still at the ready until the last twitching subsided, then heaved a sigh of relief and staggered towards the open door and the fresh air beyond.

She caught sight of Wesley and about five other Watchers coming down the street carrying guns.

'A little late.' she thought, but at least their presence showed that they hadn't planned on feeding her to the monster without backup.

She stepped through the door and waved at them. "It's all right. I killed..." Her voice trailed off in disbelief as she saw two of the Watchers taking aim at her.

One bullet grazed her shoulder as she threw herself back through the doors.

'What the hell was going on here?'

A she clambered up into the hayloft, she remembered Wesley's report on how the villagers here had turned on one another under the monster's influence. Well, now that she had killed it, they should get back to normal soon enough. She just needed to avoid them until then.

The boarding house was deserted when she got there. Buffy stripped off her clothing and stepped into the shower. The gash on her left arm burned like fire as she scrubbed herself down as best she could, and she was plagued by a growing thirst.

Dressing quickly she made her way to the kitchen in search of something cool to drink.

She was downing a carton of orange juice when she heard Wesley and Dr. Warren talking as they entered the house.

* * * * *

Wesley followed Dr. Warren into the boarding house, still wishing that there were some way to avoid having to kill Buffy and save his position in the Watchers.

"Are you absolutely sure she *has* to be killed?" he asked yet again. "She seemed clearheaded enough at the barn and she didn't try to kill any of us. She just ran, and you can't really blame her for that, what with people shooting at her. Shouldn't we at least wait until she shows some signs of..."

"The longer we wait, the harder it is going to be on all of us, including your Slayer." Dr. Warren cut him off. "I know how hard this is for you, but believe me a quick death is the best thing here. Why don't you check on Mr. Travers while I contact the Council."

Wesley sighed as the kitchen door swung shut behind Warren and went to check on Mr. Travers.

He found him sitting up in his bed grimacing at the cup of tea he was holding in his hands.

"Who in the world made this tea?" He demanded as soon as Wesley stepped through the door. "It is without a doubt the vilest concoction I have ever been asked to drink!"

"I think Barker made the tea. Let me go get you a fresh cup." Wesley offered, glad for the excuse to leave again.

He opened the kitchen door to be greeted by the sight of Dr. Warren stretched out on the floor next to the table. As he stepped forward to check on him, he barely caught the flash of a movement before something collided with the back of his head and everything went dark.

He woke to find himself bound hand and foot with Dr. Warren beside him similarly trussed up.

Dr. Warren was talking to a stone-faced Buffy as she filled a bag with food from the cupboards.

"You have to believe me!" He pleaded with her. "We're only trying to do what is best for everyone involved here. A Manticore's poison causes painful fevers as well as paranoid delusions, causing its victims to turn into vicious killers! You say that you weren't stung. Don't you see that the fact that you refuse to believe me and untie us is the first sign of the poison taking a hold of you? Who can you trust if not the Council and your Watcher?"

Buffy's expression never changed as she bent down to pull the keys to the black van out of Wesley's pocket. Picking up the bag of groceries she regarded them with a cold look.

"I advise you to stay as far away from me as possible. After what you tried to do to me here there is no way I would ever trust any of you ever again. Until the next Slayer is called, the Council will just have to go on fighting without a Slayer." She told them in a flat voice.

"Buffy you can't! You need a Watcher to..." Wesley pleaded with her.

"I don't need anyone!" She cut him off. "Certainly not a bunch of Watchers willing to first poison me then lock me up with a vampire after having stripped me of all of my powers!"

"What? Who told you..." Wesley stammered.

"The only person I can still trust told me: myself." Buffy told him grimly.

Unable to think of anything to say, Wesley watched the door swing shut behind her.

* * 5 * *

Wesley was staring morosely into the depth of his teacup. Quentin Travers, sitting across from him, was once again complaining about the taste of his tea when Dr. Warren stepped into the room.

"Still no trace of the Slayer?" Quentin Travers pushed his cup away from himself in disgust.

Warren shook his head. "Nothing conclusive. There was one report of a blonde girl demolishing a convenient store outside of Fillmore, but there where survivors, so I think we can dismiss that one as a false lead."

"What happened?" Wesley asked. Fillmore wasn't too far from Sunnydale. Could Buffy be headed back there?

"Something about a truck driver trying to molest a young girl. The trucker got his neck broken, a man trying to separate them ended up impaled on the leg of an overturned chair, and an old lady was killed when one of the store's shelves was overturned during the fight, but after that the girl just ran out. If it had been the poisoned Slayer, she would never have left while there were still people left alive." Warren told him as he made himself a cup of tea. "No, I think the report about a demon rampaging through downtown LA is the better lead. We will leave for LA in the morning."

"Maybe that girl in Fillmore was Buffy. She did say that she hadn't been stung..." Wesley suggested hopefully.

Warren took a careful sip of his hot tea. "She was stung. Otherwise she could never have seen the Manticore clearly enough to kill it."

"But why would she be going to LA? Fillmore is on the way to Sunnydale from here. It is much more likely that she would be headed back there." Wesley stubbornly persisted.

Warren heaved a sigh and set his cup down. "Fine. Why don't you go and check out the report from Fillmore. The rest of us will head for LA."

* * * * *

"So, any word from Buffy?"

Angel froze as he waited to hear Giles' answer to Oz' question.

"No, not really."

Angel frowned at the librarian's phrasing. "Not really?"

"Wesley called earlier and wanted to know how things were here in Sunnydale." Giles said dryly.

Sandy snorted: "How Cordelia was is more likely."

"Did he mention Buffy?" Owen wanted to know. "Did he say when she'd be back?"

Giles shook his head slowly. "No, but he gave me his number so I could get a hold of him. Which is a bit strange in itself. The Watchers usually do their best to pretend that neither I nor Sunnydale even exist."

"Maybe Buffy told him to." Owen suggested hopefully.

"Maybe." Giles conceded. "I got the impression that there was something he wanted to know, but didn't want to ask about straight out."

"Like I said, Cordelia." Sandy observed cynically. "Buffy was certainly right when she predicted that he'd fall for her like a ton of bricks. Speaking of the devil - isn't that her car?"

Angel spun around to scan the street behind him much to the other White Hats' amusement. To his relief there was no sign of Cordelia.

"Funny." He told Sandy, though in reality he didn't mind the young girl's teasing. It made him feel like he was actually a part of their group.

"Your face was." Sandy grinned at him. "But isn't it about time to call it a night?"

Giles nodded. "Yes. You do have school tomorrow."

* * *

Angel shifted restlessly on his bed and finally got up and quietly went out into the kitchen, careful not to wake Giles.

He retrieved a container of pig's blood from the refrigerator, hoping that a snack would settle the unease nagging at him. It put a damper on his ever-present hunger but did nothing to calm his nerves. He began to pace around Giles' living room automatically avoiding the furniture cluttering the dark room. Giles had asked him not to go out hunting on his own, but he felt like a caged tiger.

Finally he couldn't stand it any longer. The sun would rise before too long, and he would be trapped in here for the day, but he had time for a quick walk.

He picked up his weapons belt even though he really didn't expect to run into any trouble. Most vampires would be settling down for the day and the demons that didn't need to fear the light of the sun wouldn't come out until later.

He took a deep breath of the clear night air as he made his way from shadow to shadow. Some of the tension that had been building over the last two days began to uncoil.

He had missed this. As much as he longed for company, sometimes the constant presence of the others was enough to drive him to distraction. Maybe it was because as humans they were the natural prey of his kind, or maybe he had simply gotten too used to being alone over the last 90 years. 

Once again he considered looking for a place of his own to stay but dismissed it for all the same reasons as before.

Buffy had asked him to keep the other White Hats safe during her absence, and it was much easier to do so while staying at Giles' who was the de facto leader of the group.

A scream and the sound of breaking glass split the air, and Angel took off in the direction of the noise checking the weapons in his belt as he went.

He rounded the corner and found himself on a residential street. A group of five vampires was huddled around a woman who had apparently been thrown out to them through one of the windows. Holding a stake in each hand he managed to stake two of them before they even knew he was there. The remaining three released the woman and turned on him with a snarl.

He could hear screams coming from the house, but even if he could dispatch the vampires in front of him fast enough, there was nothing he could do to help the people inside. As a vampire he was unable to enter the home of a living person without a special invitation. He blocked a fist aimed at his head, then spun and kicked out at the brunette trying to tackle him from behind. These were young vampires, but from their clothing Angel guessed that they had all come from the same gang, and they were used to working as a team.

Not that that was going to save them, Angel thought grimly, as he pulled another stake from his belt. He barely ducked the next kick at his head, moving with it while pretending that it had connected solidly. He stumbled back, lifting his hands as if he were trying to shield his head so they wouldn't see how sharply he was watching their movements.

A fist shot towards his stomach and Angel folded up around it throwing himself back at the same time. Now sure that they had him beat, the brunette lunged at him with a triumphant growl only to stumble back staring in surprise at the stake protruding from her chest.

At this point Angel expected the remaining two vampires to run, - and they did. Up to the front door, to pound on it, screaming for help.

Pulling out a couple more stakes Angel followed them onto the porch, but before he could stake either of them the door opened to reveal three dark skinned Kailiff demons.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Angel turned to beat a strategic retreat only to find himself confronted by two more vampires and yet another Kailiff demon.

Eight to one and nowhere to go. Not good. Pulling a knife from his belt with his left hand he flicked it at the nearest Kailiff demon and had the satisfaction of seeing it bury itself in its throat.

One down, but he knew that was the last easy kill he was going to get as the others tackled him from all sides.

'Should have listened to Giles' he thought as he tried to sell his life as dearly as possible. It had been stupid to rush in alone without knowing exactly what he was up against. He had gotten too used to having the others around as backup.

He managed to wrap his arms around the neck of one of the Kailiff demons and break its neck, slicing up his arms on the spikes sticking out of the sides of its face in the process before they managed to immobilize him.

It could be worse, he thought as the first kick connected with his ribs, it could have been Willow that caught him. At least all *these* demons were going to do was kill him.

He was just as surprised as his captors when one of the vampires holding him suddenly disappeared in a cloud of dust, but he took instant advantage of it. Pulling a stake from the belt he was still wearing, he turned and dusted the other vampire holding him.

That left two vampires and two Kailiff demons and he was no longer alone. A grim smile lifted one corner of his mouth as he jumped forward only to feel his mouth drop open in surprise as he saw who his rescuer was. The sharp pain of a fist connecting with the side of his head quickly reminded him that there were more important things to deal with first.

A few minutes later the last of the demons fell to a well-placed knife and Angel allowed himself to relax and turn to the petite blonde that had once again come to his rescue.

"Buffy! When did you..." The words died on his lips as the blonde Slayer turned away form the dying Kailiff demon and attacked him without losing a single beat.

Angel stared in surprise at the wooden stake coming straight for him.

At the last minute he managed to turn enough so it buried itself in his side instead of his heart. The pain didn't even have time to register before he had to duck a fist aimed at his face.

"Buffy, its me, Angel!" he yelled as he backpedaled away form her vicious attacks. The expression on her flushed, sweat-covered face never changed. There was no recognition in her fever-bright eyes.

He didn't want to hurt her, but neither did he want to die at the hands of a crazed Slayer. He managed to knock the stake out of her hand and blocking her punches and kicks as best he could he tried to maneuver her up against the wall of the house. After the beating he had taken earlier he wasn't at his best, but luckily the Slayer wasn't in much better shape.

He managed to catch a hold of her wrists and pin her up against the wall with his body. She tried to bite him and as he twisted to avoid her teeth the cross choker he had given her for her birthday connected with his right arm. He jerked away from the pain of the crosses burning into his skin but refused to relinquish his grip on her.

"I don't want to hurt you, Buffy!" He told her desperately.

To his surprise she stilled at his words. She looked up at him, but there was still no sign of recognition in her eyes.

"Angel?" She asked doubtfully.

He let out a relieved sigh and loosened his grip on her hands. "It's me, Angel." he told her. "Buffy, what happened to you?"

* * 6 * *

Buffy aimed her stake at the Sikkah-demon's main heart but when it turned, she shifted her aim for the secondary heart lower down in the side of its chest, then drove her left fist towards its face. It ducked her swing yelling something and backed up to give itself enough distance to shoot off one of its poisonous head spines at her.

Buffy followed it, kicking and punching as fast as she could, more to prevent it from getting a chance to aim than in any hopes of actually inflicting real damage. The layers of tough dark yellow scales that covered its extremities provided excellent protection with the only soft spots being its belly and neck.

She was trying to get it to turn and run. Sikkah-demons didn't like close fighting, and she was tired enough that she was perfectly willing to let it go. Instead it closed with her and before she knew it, it managed to pin her up against a wall.

She knew that her teeth would never even penetrate its armor, but she was determined to go down fighting tooth and nail. And since she couldn't use her nails, tooth it was.

To her surprise it squirmed to avoid her teeth, as if they could really hurt it, though it didn't relinquish its death grip on her wrists. Its right arm pressed up against her throat for a moment and Buffy heard a hiss of pain and caught a whiff of burnt skin.

What was going on here? Crosses didn't burn Sikkah-demons.

"I don't want to hurt you, Buffy!" Buffy froze, assailed by a sense of deja vu. She had heard the same words said to her in the same pained and desperate voice once before, hadn't she? When? Then she remembered her stay in the other Sunnydale.

She looked up into the grotesque face of the demon holding her pinned up against the wall. "Angel?" she asked doubtfully. This sure didn't look like Angel.

She felt him relax his tight grip and heave a sigh of relief. "It's me, Angel. Buffy, what happened to you?"

"Me? What happened to *you*? You're a demon!" She countered still not really believing it was him.

"I've *been* a demon for more than 200 years." He sounded puzzled.

"Yeah, but the last time I saw you, you weren't covered in yellow scales or had spikes growing out of your head." She pointed out to him.

"Spikes?" he echoed in a startled voice.

He let go of her left wrist and reached up to feel his head. It was strange to see his hand pass right through the spikes as if they weren't even there. Buffy blinked. What if they weren't? Closing her eyes she hesitantly reached out to touch him. Hair, smooth skin, no scales, no spikes.

With a shudder she dropped her head against his broad chest. Hadn't Warren said something about Manticore poison causing paranoid illusions?

"Oh, god." Her mind went back to the pair of demons that had attacked her in the little store outside of Fillmore, how they had kept shifting, morphing from demon to human and back. She had killed them. Just like she had almost killed Angel.

Warren had warned her that this would happen. Told her that she was now as dangerous as the monsters she was fighting against to the people it was her duty to protect.

She began to shiver uncontrollably.

Two strong arms wrapped themselves around her back. "Shh, it's okay." Angel tried to soothe her.

Those demons she had killed, had they really been demons? "Giles and the others... - those demons, they weren't..."

"The others are fine." Angel told her. "But we better get back to Giles place."

Panic ripped through her. "I can't go there!" She clutched at a pair of arms that looked like scales but felt like cloth.

"Buffy, we can't stay here." he told her earnestly. "Or at least I can't. The sun will be up soon. Plus Giles might know why you're seeing things that aren't there."

Buffy swallowed hard. "Ever heard of a Manticore?" She felt him stiffen against her. "I'll take that as a yes. I killed one. Warren tried to warn me. I didn't believe him... I ran." It was hard to get the next words past the lump in her throat. "Maybe I should have stayed, let them do it. Warren said they'd make quick and clean."

She felt his fingers digging hard into her shoulders. "No! We just have to find the antidote before the poison..."

"...kills me?" Buffy finished his sentence for him. "But it won't." she told him bitterly. "I'm a Slayer. It won't kill me, just make me kill everyone else."

"Giles will help." Angel insisted.

Buffy shook her head. "I can't trust..."

"You've got to trust somebody!"

"I can't even trust myself! I almost killed you!" She yelled back at him.

"But you didn't." Angel pointed out.

"I would have. I thought you were a Sikkah-demon." She searched his face. "You still look like a Sikkah-demon." She closed her eyes and buried her face against his chest. "I know you're Angel, I can feel your shirt - and I still have to fight to keep from attacking you."

"You just have to control it. You can beat this poison. We'll find an antidote..." Angel repeated.

"Angel, you're not the first one. There were those two guys... I thought they were demons. But what if..." she couldn't say it.

"Buffy, how do you know that they weren't?" He countered.

Buffy looked up at him and, for a moment, she could almost see his real face. "Promise me - promise me that you'll kill me before you let me kill anyone else."

His fingers closed on her shoulders with a convulsive strength that sent a lance of pain down her arms.

"Buffy..." he began in a shocked voice.

"Promise me!"

After a moment his shoulders slumped but if anything his hands only gripped her harder.

"I promise." He whispered and Buffy felt some of the tension leave her body.

Angel took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. "Buffy, I *have* to get out of the open."

"Do you know the old abandoned mansion on Crawford Street just outside of town? Can we make it there before sunrise?" She asked him.

Angel looked around. "We're close to Restfield Cemetery. We can make it if we run."

Buffy took a deep breath and stepped back from him. "Okay, just hold on to my hand. That will help me remember that you're you. - I hope."

The run that followed was a living nightmare. With every step she had to fight the urge to pull her hand free and turn on the monster running beside her.

Finally she pulled as far ahead as their tightly linked hands would allow. The less she actually saw of him the better, she figured.

They reached the mansion and Buffy pulled the door open and hurried inside - only to be jerked to a dead stop when Angel ran into an invisible wall as he tried to follow her.

'Stupid!' Buffy chided herself. 'He's a vampire!'

Buffy turned to invite him in and the words died on her lips.

That wasn't Angel holding her hand. Somehow he had been replaced by a red monster the likes of which she had never even heard of.

"What are you?" Buffy demanded. "What did you do with Angel?" In a near panic she tried to pull free of its grip.

"Buffy, it's me!" The red monster insisted. "Whatever you're seeing, I'm still Angel!"

Buffy fought against a wave of unreasoning fear and the urge to kill this thing before it could kill her. Sweat broke out all over her body and she almost doubled over from the pain gripping her insides.

"Buffy!" Angel's voice sounded desperate.

Angel, she had to invite him in so he could... so he could... kill her! He was a vampire, he would kill her! "Oh, god!" Was that smoke she smelled? The sun! The sun would burn him and she would be safe. No! She couldn't let him burn. He was good. She could trust him. He had a soul, and she had to trust somebody!

Buffy looked up and, for a moment, she could see the smoking vampire beneath the red monster. His eyes full of pain and desperation as he looked at her.

Another wave of pain washed over her and she took a deep breath. Either she could trust him or he would kill her. The way she felt right now she almost hoped for the latter. But either way he would stop her from killing anyone else, and that was all that really mattered right now.

"Come in."

* * * * *

Oz and Larry entered Giles' house to find the ex-Watcher sitting on the sofa with a rather lost expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Larry wanted to know.

"Angel's gone." Giles told them. "I went into his room a few minutes ago to discuss tonight's patrol and his room was empty."

"He just packed his things and left?" Oz asked.

"Actually his things are still there." Giles said slowly.

"Maybe he just went out and didn't make it back before sunrise." Larry suggested.

"I can't believe that he would go out alone. He knows how dangerous Sunnydale is." Giles shook his head.

"Well, he is a vampire." Oz pointed out with a shrug.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door and a few moments later Giles led Wesley into the room.

"You guys are back." Oz greeted him. "Didn't take Buffy long to kill that monster."

Wesley shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, well..."

"It'll be good to have the Slayer going out on patrol with us again." Larry chimed in.

Giles remained quiet, never taking his eyes off Wesley.

"Well, as to that - there may be a problem..." Wesley stammered.

* * 7 * *

Angel eyed Buffy warily as he stretched his tired and aching body. For the last hour she had been sitting in a corner of the big living room, arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth.

At least she had given up trying to leave the house for now. He carefully rotated his left shoulder to prevent it from stiffening up. He had dislocated it in a desperate struggle to keep her from getting past him out into the sun where he couldn't follow her. He had promised that he would stop her form killing any innocents and he would keep that promise.

Choosing to fight purely defensively had earned him numerous scrapes and bruises, but it also helped Buffy to see through the poison-induced hallucinations. He would wait until her attacks faltered, thrown off by the fact that he refused to retaliate the way a normal opponent would. And once that first doubt surfaced in her mind, he could usually talk her back to reason.

But she needed more help than simply having someone there to stop her from going on a killing rampage. She needed an antidote to get rid of the hallucinations in the first place. And for that they needed Giles.

There had been no way for him to contact Giles or one of the others. The house had neither electricity nor a working phone, though it at least had running water, and the sun kept him trapped inside. But now the sun was nearing the horizon. He didn't like the idea of leaving Buffy, but he couldn't see any other choice.

That meant he had to find a way to keep her here until he got back.

Avoiding any sudden or threatening movements, he slowly walked over to Buffy and crouched down in front of her.

"Buffy?" he asked softly, trying to gain her attention.

She tensed up at the sound of his voice, but at least she didn't launch into an immediate attack.

"It's me, Angel." he reminded her. "I have to leave for a while and we have to find a place where you'll be safe until I get back."

He was about to try again when she finally answered. "There is a little storage room in the basement."

Wanting to take advantage of her momentary lucidity he suggested: "Why don't we grab some blankets and pillows, and you can make yourself comfortable there?"

Angel was careful not to crowd Buffy as they made their way down to the basement. Sweat once again covered Buffy's brow and her whole body seemed coiled, ready to attack, but they made it into the little storage room without any incident.

Two narrow, barred windows let in the late evening light but were too small for Buffy to squeeze through. Angel set down the battery powered light he was carrying and made up a pallet in the driest corner of the room, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Buffy. But she simply stood in the middle of the room, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, with a far-away expression in her eyes.

One hand on the handle of the door he turned back to her. "Stay here. I'll be back as soon as possible."

There was no sign that she had heard him.

After a moment he turned to open the door, only to have her tackle him to the floor with a desperate yell: "Don't leave me!"

"Buffy, you need the antidote. Giles and the others will find it for us." he told her firmly, hoping desperately that he was telling her the truth.

Buffy's grip tightened on his arms and she bit her bottom lip in an effort to retain control. The heady bouquet of fresh Slayer blood invaded his senses as he stared at the drop of blood beading up on her lip. Closing his eyes he swallowed hard and fought his own battle for control.

After a moment Buffy rolled to lie on the floor beside him. "He'll call the Watchers and they'll come and kill me."

Her resigned words jolted him out of his preoccupation with his battle against his bloodlust. He rolled over and grabbed a hold of her shoulders. "No, they won't! I won't let them."

She looked at him with a trembling half smile. "Maybe it'll be better that way. I just feel sorry for the next Slayer. Will you watch over her, too?"

"You can't just give up and let them kill you!" A painful tightness in his chest made his voice rough. Then a wave of anger rushed through him. Anger at her that she was willing to give up that easily. Anger at the Watchers that had let this happen to her. But most of all anger at himself for not having been there when she needed him.

Taking a deep, breath he forced the anger away. Yelling at her wouldn't accomplish anything.

"Buffy please." He pleaded with her quietly. "We can get through this."

But Buffy only curled up into a tight little ball, and after a moment Angel carefully picked her up and tucked her under the blankets of the pallet he had made for her.

He reached out one hand and hesitantly stroked her silky hair. "Giles will find an antidote. You'll be fine." he told her. "I won't let the Watchers get near you. We'll find a cure and you'll be fine."

Buffy opened one eye and glanced up at him. "How can you be so sure?"

Because he absolutely refused to even consider the alternative. The idea of her dying made him almost physically ill. But he didn't think that she would appreciate hearing that.

"Get some rest." He told her, then he quietly secured the door behind him.

* * * * *

Wesley shifted uncomfortably, finding it hard to look directly at the ex-Watcher or his two young friends.

"Did Buffy get hurt?" Giles asked.

"Not - exactly..." Wesley hedged, unable to find the words to tell them what 'exactly' had happened to Buffy.

"Dead?" The ex-Watcher asked, slowly sinking down on a chair.

"No, she's not dead. She is - worse." Wesley swallowed hard.

"A vampire?" Larry guessed.

"No, though I almost wish she were." Wesley sighed. "Vampires are evil and just need to be staked. No questions about what my duty would be in that case. No, this - this is much worse."

But before he could get any further, he suddenly lost everyone's attention as the door opened to admit another of their little group of demon fighters. Wesley felt his mouth drop open as he took in Angel's appearance.

In all his time spent as Buffy's Watcher, he had never encountered a better fighter than Angel. Angel had at times almost seemed to equal the Slayer in fighting strength and skill. Wesley had never seen him even close to as tired or battered as he looked right now.

"Good God, Angel! Are you all right?" Giles asked, obviously as shocked by the man's appearance as Wesley was himself.

Angel's eyes had locked onto Wesley as soon as he had stepped through the door, and Wesley didn't at all care for the expression in them. Maybe it was his torn and bloody shirt that suddenly made him appear so threatening, but Wesley suddenly found himself wishing that there were a lot more between them then a flimsy table and some chairs.

"What's he doing here?" Angel asked in a flat voice.

"He was just about to tell us that when you interrupted. Apparently something has happened to Buffy." Giles answered him.

Angel's eyes narrowed but he stayed silent.

Taking a deep breath, Wesley forced himself to just come straight out and say it. "Buffy killed a Manticore."

As an ex-Watcher Giles obviously knew what that meant. He turned several shades paler and slowly sank back down on his chair.

Oz looked from Giles' white face to Angel's unchanged one. "And that's a bad thing?"

"When?" Giles asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yesterday around noon." Wesley answered quietly.

Giles pulled his glasses off and covered his eyes with his other hand. "So, has the new Slayer been identified yet?"

"Woah! New Slayer? I thought you only get those when..." Oz trailed off when Giles lifted his head to look at him.

"You thought right." Giles told him with a tired sigh. "Buffy fought a Manticore, and Manticore poison will kill anyone within the span of one day. - After first turning them into berserk killers."

"Not - everyone." Wesley corrected him reluctantly. "Slayers have a certain resistance to the poison that will keep it from taking immediate effect. It also prevents the poison from actually killing the Slayer. Unfortunately it *still* turns them into berserk killers. - Which is why the Council has a standing directive that any Slayer exposed to a Manticore is to be killed as soon and as mercifully as possible."

"Why not simply give her an antidote?" Angel's quiet voice sounded unnaturally loud in the shocked silence that had fallen over the room. "Or keep her confined until the effects of the poison wear off?"

"There is no indication that the poison will wear off by itself. Maria Montgarret went on a three-week killing spree without the slightest sign that the poison was losing effectiveness before a group of 25 Watchers managed to stop her. The poison's influence only grows stronger over time and there is no antidote." Wesley told them feeling helpless. Then he looked over at Mr. Giles. "At least none that the Council knows of."

"Is that why you came here, to see if I know of a way to cure Manticore poisoning?" Giles asked. "I don't."

Wesley felt his last hope slipping away.

"That doesn't mean that there isn't one." Angel objected. "We can't just give up without even looking first!"

"Angel, a Manticore's poison is clearly of a magical nature, otherwise a Slayer would either die of it or overcome its effects given enough time." Giles told the young man regretfully.

"Any spell can be broken." Angel insisted.

"Maybe if we knew exactly how it affected its victims, we might have a chance at figuring out how to reverse its effects." Giles sighed. "But without that, I don't even know where to begin!"

Angel began to pace the length of the room like a caged tiger. The predatory grace of his movements had an almost hypnotic quality that repelled and fascinated Wesley at the same time. Every line of his body seemed to radiate barely contained violence.

When Angel suddenly spun around to confront him directly, Wesley jumped back with an involuntary shriek.

There was a gleam of unholy amusement in Angel's eyes that did nothing to calm Wesley's frayed nerves. For a moment he almost expected the man to sprout fangs like a vampire and rip out his throat, but all he did was narrow his eyes and ask in a hard voice: "Do you know where Buffy is?"

"N-n-not exactly." Wesley suddenly felt his back collide with the wall behind him. Angel's intense stare never wavered. Wesley felt like a mouse just before the hawk's claws are about to close on it. "The C-council is looking f-for her in LA. There were reports... But I think she is here. I-I found her van next to the flattened 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign."

"Did you tell the Council?" Angel's voice was just short of a threatening growl.

"N-no. I was hoping... The poison seemed to be affecting her more slowly then Maria. I-I thought, maybe, if Mr. Giles knew of a way to cure her..." Angel drew back ever so slightly. It was like a door had been closed, the violence hidden away as if it had never been. Wesley took a flustered breath and pulled himself up straighter, trying to pretend that he wasn't shaken down to his bones as Angel resumed his restless pacing. Wesley looked over at the others, expecting them to mock him for his fear, but they were focused too intently on the pacing figure to pay him any attention.

"Angel?" Giles asked tentatively.

"Got to trust someone," Angel told him with a mirthless smile, "just like I told Buffy."

"You've seen Buffy?" Wesley took an excited step forwards only to flatten himself back against the wall as Angel spun back around to face him.

"Yes. And believe me, if you sell her out to the Council, I'll eat your heart out with a spoon while you watch!" Angel threatened in a low growl.

"Where is she?" Giles asked.

After a moment's hesitation Angel turned away to answer the ex-Watcher. "I locked her up in the basement of the mansion. The poison is making her see things that aren't there. She attacked me because she thought I was a Sikkah-demon, but I was able to talk her into believing I was me. Sight is affected, but not touch. I'm not sure about hearing."

"Well, that's a start. We'll call in the others and start looking." Giles was already scribbling on a piece of paper. "Here is a list of books I need from the library. Oz, swing by Amy's place on your way to get them. She has some books left by her mother that might help as well."

"I'm going to head back to the mansion." Angel said throwing an impatient look at the clock on the wall.

"Here." Oz pulled his little mobile phone from his back pocket. "You're staying at Buffy's new place?"

"You know it?" Angel asked as he accepted the phone.

"Helped her move some stuff with the van." Oz shrugged. "I'll see what I can do about the utilities."

Angel nodded his thanks then simply turned to go.

* * 8 * * 

Oz sat in front of his terminal in Sunnydale High's computer lab and threw a quick glance up at the clock hanging above the teacher's desk. He was cutting it awfully close. The new computer teacher would be coming in to prepare for her first class at any time, and he didn't think that she would be at all amused to find one of her star pupils using the skills she taught to break into the files of the Sunnydale Phone Company. 

But he had just spent over an hour activating the phone at the mansion, and giving it an unlisted number while preventing its use from registering on the monitoring equipment. All he needed to do now was to extricate himself out of the system and not leave behind any trace of his handiwork. 

He had just activated the worm program that would erase the last of his tracks when the door opened to admit the new computer teacher. Oz quickly hit the hot key combination that overlaid his current terminal screen with the one Sandy was using in the library. 

"Snyder will skin you alive if he finds out you're using the school's system for your own projects." Coming up behind him Ms. Calendar looked over his shoulder. "What this? 'Magical Poisons and Their Uses'? You're not planning on using those on our esteemed principal, are you?" 

Oz shook his head "A friend of mine got hit by some poison." 

"What type of poison? What are its effects?" she asked concerned. "I may be able to help." 

"You know about that kind of stuff?" Oz asked surprised. "Not too many people are interested in both magic and computers." 

Ms. Calendar shrugged. "We call ourselves Techno-pagans. The members of my group are scattered all around the world, but we keep in pretty close contact over the web. So, what cure are you looking for?" 

A small icon flashed briefly to let him know that his worm had completed its job successfully and Oz proceeded to log off. "You should talk to Sandy and Giles in the library. I'm not all that clear on the magic parts of this." 

Miss Calendar raised her eyebrows slightly as his terminal screen flashed for a moment to the log-in screen of the Phone Company before it shut down, but she didn't comment on it. "Mr. Giles is the librarian here, isn't he? He is into magic?" 

"He's our resident monster and demon expert." Oz nodded. 

"Definitely a man I should get to know, then." Ms. Calendar smiled as she pushed herself away from the table to follow Oz to the library. 

* * * * * 

Angel let out a ragged sigh as he leaned back against the wall. Buffy was getting worse not better. It was getting harder to talk her back to reason and she would attack now without any visible provocation. 

And he had another problem: he was hungry and he was tired. Buffy was able to catch short periods of uneasy sleep, but he didn't dare close his eyes even for a minute. 

The door to the little storage room had proven no match for a determined Slayer. He had been lucky to get back from Giles' in time to stop her from leaving the mansion altogether. Having to keep a constant watch together with the frequent fights was taking its toll on him. Even vampires had their limits, especially when they hadn't eaten for a while. It helped that Buffy kept battling whatever monster she saw him as instead of the real him. It made her punches much easier to avoid when they were aimed at tentacles and tails only she could see. 

Oz had called earlier to let him know that Giles, Amy and a Ms. Calendar had found a possible cure, and that they would come over as soon as they could get away without alerting Wesley. 

Angel didn't trust the Watcher and was all for keeping Buffy's location secret from Wesley, but he wished they would hurry up and get here. 

As if his thought had conjured them up, he heard the sound of Oz' van pulling up outside. 

He saw Buffy tense at the sound of the door opening and was ready to intercept the attack she launched at the newcomers. 

He heard shocked exclamations but couldn't spare any attention from his efforts to keep Buffy from getting past him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Giles and Oz pick up a blanket and rush towards them with it held between them. They managed to catch Buffy's arms in the blanket and wrap it around her before she was even aware of their approach. The three of them fell to the floor and Angel quickly moved to help them keep Buffy confined. 

A slender dark haired woman stepped up to them holding a bottle filled with a clear orange liquid in her right hand. 

"Prop up her head and we'll see if we can get her to drink this." she told them calmly. 

"What is that stuff?" Angel asked suspiciously even as he moved to comply with her request. 

"Old family recipe." she told him with a quick smile. 

"But will it cure her?" Angel wanted to know. Something about this woman put him on edge. She reminded him of someone, of danger and pain, though he didn't know why. 

It was Giles who answered him. "It's the closest thing to a cure we could find." Before he could say anything Giles held up his hands and continued. "I can't guarantee that it will cure her, but I myself helped Ms. Calendar prepare it, and I can at least guarantee that it won't hurt her. It is basically a more powerful version of Lanahan's wellness potion, with some detoxification elements added into it." 

"I also called an old family blessing down on it that has proven to help with a lot of illnesses." Ms Calendar added. "I figured that it couldn't hurt to add some extra fire power." 

But actually getting Buffy to drink the stuff was easier said then done. Even with all four of them to pin her down, it was a struggle but they finally got her to swallow the potion. 

The others stepped back and Buffy made one last try to break free just as Angel relaxed his grip on her. Her head hit the wall with a sickening thud and she crumpled into a lifeless heap on the floor. 

Angel crouched down beside her and carefully ran his fingers through her long hair to make sure she hadn't cracked her skull. He froze as his fingers encountered a warm stickiness. Blood. His whole body went rigid as he fought to keep his face from changing. Oz and Giles might know what he was, but Ms. Calendar didn't, and he didn't think that this was the best time for her to find out. 

"Angel?" Giles worried voice seemed to come from far away. "Is she all right? - Are you?" 

"Yeah. She's bleeding, but I don't think her skull is cracked." Angel managed to get out. 

"Oh. Oz, why don't you get the first aid kit out of the van?" Giles said as he knelt down on Buffy's other side. "I'll take care of it." he assured Angel. 

Angel forced himself to get up and back away. He clenched his blood-smeared hand into a fist. 

Ms. Calendar was watching him with a curious expression on her face. "Angel? You're... Is that really your name?" 

"Yeah." Angel answered curtly. 

"You look a bit queasy." she observed. 

He felt queasy, loathing the fact that he was so tempted to taste the blood on his hand. 

"It's the blood." Oz commented as he handed the first aid kit to Giles. "He has a hard time with it." 

That was one way of putting it, Angel thought wryly. 

"Oh." Ms. Calendar seemed a bit taken aback. 

Angel didn't like the way she looked at him as if he were some strange animal and went over to the kitchen sink, as much to escape her scrutiny as to wash the temptation off his hand. 

By the time he got back, Buffy was lying on the sofa, a clean bandage wrapped around her head. 

"Here's the first aid kit. Looks like you could use it." Giles told him. "We'll stay here and help you watch her until we know whether or not the cure worked." 

Angel shook his head. "I'd rather you went back to the library and kept looking, just in case." 

"Depending on how strong the poison is it might take a while before you see any results." Ms. Calendar warned him. 

"All the more reason for you guys to leave. Buffy would never forgive herself if she hurt one of you." Angel told them simply. 

As soon as the door had closed behind them, Angel knelt down besides the sofa and took one of Buffy's hands into his. Propping his elbows on the edge of the sofa, he rested his forehead against the small hand cradled between his own. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this tired, but he was determined to stay awake until he could be sure that the cure had worked.

* * 9 * *

Buffy woke slowly. Her whole body ached and for long moments she had no idea where she was. Her most recent memories were a hopeless tangle of fighting the most horrible monsters she had ever laid eyes on - the sound of Angel's voice telling her that he was there, that he wouldn't let anything harm her, that the monsters she saw were only illusions produced by the poison. The mention of poison brought back memories of the Manticore and what Dr. Warren had said had happened to other Slayers stung by one.

She became aware of a weight pinning down her lower body. Taking a deep breath she forced herself to look down, afraid of what she might see.

To her relief it wasn't a monster pinning her down, or worse, the bodies of some innocent humans that she had killed, but only Angel's unmoving form. His eyes were closed and he looked as bad or worse than when she had first found him chained up at the Bronze. There was a grayish tinge to his skin and dark circles under his eyes. Through the rips in his shirt she could see the discoloration of fresh bruises and patches of dried-up blood.

She reached out to reassure herself that this was really Angel, not some new trick the poison was playing on her. Her hand encountered soft, tousled hair. It was him.

Suddenly she became aware that his eyes were open and watching her. Snatching her hand back as if it had been burned, she felt herself blush in embarrassed confusion.

"Uh. Oh. Hi." She managed to get out. "Just making sure you're you – which you are." Great, Buffy, she told herself, way to come off like a moron! "I didn't mean to wake you, sorry."

He straightened up and his deep brown eyes searched her face with an intensity that caused her blush to deepen. She was suddenly very conscious of his closeness and the fact that he was holding one of her hands in his.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her in a low voice.

"Like I got run over by a truck. But at least there aren't any monsters trying to kill me unless I kill them first. So I'd say that I'm definitely feeling better." She licked her lips nervously, her mouth suddenly dry. "And very, very thirsty."

That last brought the hint of a smile to his face. "That's easily fixed." He got up, but didn't release her hand. "Will you be alright here while I go make some tea?"

"Sure." She nodded, willing her blush to disappear. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not sure I *could*, even if I wanted to."

With a nod he reluctantly let her hand slip out of his as he stepped back.

Her nerves slowly calmed as she listened to him working in the kitchen.

* * * * *

Angel came back with the tea only to find her fast asleep. 

Setting the teacup on the end table he bent down to tuck the blanket up around her still form. She looked so delicate and fragile lying there asleep. It was hard to believe that this girl was one of the strongest and toughest fighters he had ever encountered.

He felt his heart go out to her and barely stopped himself from running his fingers through her hair, surrounding her head like a golden halo.

He knew that he would do anything to keep her safe, to help her in her fight against the forces of darkness that had been forced on her by the fates.

Picking up the cell phone he quietly informed Giles that the cure appeared to have worked then settled into one of the chairs across from the sofa to watch Buffy sleep.

* * *

It was late afternoon when the sound of running water woke him. Buffy was gone from the sofa, but the blanket that had covered her was now tucked around him. That simple gesture warmed him more than the blanket ever could. It also reassured him that Buffy was no longer under the influence of the poison.

Hunger gnawed at his insides, urging him to go and find a victim to sink his teeth into.

He began to pace restlessly, waiting for the sun to set and free him to go hunting for something to quiet the desperate craving that threatened to overwhelm his control. A deer would have been his first choice, but he would settle for a rabbit. Hell, right now he'd settle for a rat, even though their taste always brought back memories of some of the worst times of his life: of living in the gutter, or even worse, of the time he had spent as the Master's prisoner.

The bathroom door opened just as he passed the opening of the hallway and damp air rolled over him carrying with it the sweet smell of a warm human body, laced through with just a tinge of fresh blood. The bloodlust washed over him like a red haze and he froze as Buffy stepped into the hallway, dressed in a fresh pair of blue jeans and a simple T-shirt.

"Angel?" Buffy asked tentatively. "Are you alright?"

His eyes were glued to the spot where she had cracked her head earlier. He could almost taste the blood hidden under the curtain of damp hair.

"Oh." Buffy's eyes flooded with understanding. "When's the last time you ate?"

Unable to meet her eyes Angel turned away, trying to hide the uncomfortable mix of bloodlust and desire that raced through him.

The silence stretched between them as deep as the chasm that separated him from true humanity. He might have a soul, but he was and always would be nothing more than a vampire.

"Don't worry." He told her quietly. "I'll leave as soon as the sun is down."

"No need. Oz called earlier, he's bringing dinner. Pizza for me, liquid pig for you." Buffy told him matter-of-factly.

One of her hands trailed softly over the bruises and scrapes showing through his torn sleeve. "I'm sorry about these. - And I wanted to thank you. If it hadn't been for you…"

Angel found himself caught in her big hazel eyes, unable to look away. It had to be hard for her to feel beholden to a vampire, so he pointed out: "It wasn't me that found the antidote."

"No, you were too busy letting me use you as my punching bag." Buffy told him with forced lightness. "Well, the shower is all yours, and Oz should get here soon with dinner and some clean clothes for you."

With a nod Angel forced himself to leave the circle of her body heat.

* * * * *

Buffy was balanced precariously on the edge of a chair nailing up a thick blanket to cover the window, so she only yelled "In here" when she heard Angel asking where she was. Giving the blanket one last tug to make sure it was secure, she turned around only to freeze at the sight of Angel standing there with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

God, but he was easy on the eyes. It was no wonder that her counterpart in the other Sunnydale had fallen for him. Not that she was in any danger of following in her footsteps, she reassured herself firmly. That low tickle in her belly was nothing more than purely esthetical appreciation.

He was looking around the room with a peculiar expression on his face and Buffy wondered if there was something wrong with it. She had picked this room because it had been the one the other Angel had occupied, but she had never actually been in it during her short stay at his mansion. She saw his eyes come to rest on the bed.

"I haven't gotten around to putting the sheets on it yet." She said apologetically. "I thought it was more important to cover the window up first."

"You want me to stay *here*?" Angel asked in stunned disbelief.

"You don't have to, of course." Buffy said quickly, stepping off the chair. "I just thought that this might be more spacious than Giles' den. Of course, if you'd rather not…" She turned the hammer nervously in her hands. What had she been thinking?

"No! It's not…" Angel ran one hand through his wet hair and Buffy had to smile in spite of herself. So, that was why it always stood up like that. Must be hard, not being able to see yourself in a mirror. "It's just – I'm a vampire. - You'd actually trust me…?"

Buffy shrugged. "Hey, if you were going to bite me, I figure you've had plenty of chances these last – how long was I acting crazy anyway? It's all a bit fuzzy. So, no, I'm not particularly worried. Plus there is that whole me being the Slayer thing. I get vampires trying to bite me all the time. - Not that I think you would…" Buffy forced herself to take a deep breath. She was babbling again. She seemed to be doing that a lot around him. "Either way with the window covered at least you have a safe place to change. Oz went to get my van. Well, actually it's the Watchers' van, I just kind of took it, but since I did I might as well use it." Another deep breath. Better get out of here. "Okay, so. Dinner is on the dresser, and the sheets are under the bag of clothes on the bed, and this is me leaving before I talk you to death."

"I'm already dead." Angel pointed out with a smile.

"Okay, before I talk you to dust then." Buffy amended. "Hey, if you don't want to stay here, I understand. No big. For all I know you've already found something better while I was gone."

"No, I haven't and Giles probably *would* be glad to get his den back." Angel admitted hesitantly.

"Yeah, wouldn't do to impose on his hospitality." Buffy agreed quickly. "Plus, I think it might be a good idea for the White Hats to meet here from now on. There is enough room for whatever books Giles might want to bring. So, it would make it easier for you to attend our planning sessions if you stayed here. Giles' house gets awfully crowded when we're all there and the library isn't a safe alternative."

"Yeah, your birthday party kind of proved that." Angel agreed with a wry smile.

* * * * *

Angel kept glancing out of the corner of his eye at the young girl sitting in the passenger seat as he drove the black minivan through the streets of Sunnydale. He knew that her reasons for offering him a place to stay at the mansion were purely practical, but that didn't seem to stop the warmth that was melting the ice that had settled into his heart the day the gypsies had restored his soul.

For the first time since Whistler had pulled him out of the gutter in Manhattan, he felt that he might truly have a chance to redeem himself, to make up for all the horrible things he had done as a vampire. To leave his past behind and build a new life here, fighting on the side of Good instead of Evil.

Just then a thin wraith from his past darted out into the intersection ahead of them and he jerked the steering wheel in surprise.

"I thought you said you knew how to drive…" Buffy trailed off as she saw the thin, dark haired girl run right into the arms of a burly vampire.

With a curse she reached for the door handle, but Angel clamped one hand around her arm stopping her from getting out of the car.

"What do you think you're doing?" Buffy demanded angrily. "That girl is going to be dinner if we don't do something! We have to at least try and save her."

"It's too late for that." Angel was surprised at how calm his voice sounded.

He should have known better. There would never be any way for him to truly leave his past behind.

"No, it's not!" Buffy protested. "Let go of me. If you're too much of a coward to go out there…"

Angel was not surprised to see a blond haired man come up to the pair and kick the big vampire away from the girl. It was the sight of the man's face that had caused Buffy to forget the rest of her sentence. A face with a heavily ridged brow, glowing yellow eyes, and sharp fangs.

Buffy threw a questioning look at Angel as they watched the two vampires fight for a few moments before the blond picked up a short piece of wood and staked the other. He could feel Buffy tense as the vampire walked over to the girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her away.

"What is going on here?" Buffy asked. "I thought you were the only vampire around with a soul. Why did that vampire save that girl?"

"Because that isn't a girl. That is Drusilla, and you're over a hundred years too late to save her." Angel told her heavily.

"Drusilla? Does that mean that blonde vampire is Spite?" Buffy surprised him by asking.

"Spike." Angel corrected her. "I don't know why he and Dru have chosen to come here now, but I know that they are trouble."

"Then we better go warn the others and figure out how best to deal with Bonnie and Clyde here." Buffy concluded grimly.

The whole way over to Giles' house Angel kept wondering how best to tell Buffy and the others about Spike and Dru, and if they would still be willing to trust him after he did.

End of Chapter three of the Wishverse, the next chapter should be "The Enemy of my Enemy" if I continue this story (which is my way of asking for feedback J ).


	4. The Enemy Of My Enemy

The Enemy of My Enemy

Wishverse Chapter 4 

Disclaimer: The characters in this story have been borrowed from Joss Whedon's "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer".

Spoilers: This Wishverse is based loosely on the two episodes of "The Wish" and "Doppelgangland". This chapter also contains a spoiler for the Season 4 episode of "The Harsh Light of Day" and spoilers for "Graduation". 

Really short summary of what has happened in the first three chapters: 

In chapter 1 "Doppelganged Again" Buffy interrupted a second attempt by Anyanka to retrieve her amulet and the Buffy from the Wishverse ended up in the regular Sunnydale. After spending five days with the gang she returned to the Wishverse and actually managed to kill the Master, then talked her Watcher (Wesley) into staying there to help Giles and the White Hats to fight the vampire population of Sunnydale. In chapter 2 "The Winter Brunch" Owen takes Buffy to a school dance, and Cordy has some problems with frogs, which come in handy when vamp.Willow and vamp.Xander decide to crash Buffy's early birthday party at the library. In chapter 3 "A Matter of Trust" the Watchers are trying to make Buffy undergo the Cruciamentum, but forewarned by the Sunnydale Buffy, it doesn't go the way the Watchers had planned. 

* * 1 * * 

Buffy and Angel walked quietly up to Giles house, both lost in their own thoughts. 

They entered the living room to find it crowded with people. 

Wesley was the first one to notice their entrance. "Finally! What took you so long?" He greeted them. 

Angel felt a growl building in his chest at the Watcher's rude greeting, but before he could do more than glare at Wesley, all the others were crowding around Buffy and welcoming her back. Sandy was the first to grab Buffy in a quick hug. "I was so worried when I heard that you had been poisoned!" 

"Uh, thanks." Buffy awkwardly returned the girl's hug. She looked surprised at the group's reaction and more than a little stunned by their hearty welcome. 'She shouldn't be,' Angel thought as he let himself be pushed further back, 'she had changed all of their lives for the better in more ways than one.'

"I'm glad you're back, but not as glad as my big brother." Sandy said as she pulled back and winked at Buffy. "He missed you terribly!" 

Amy scowled at Sandy's words while Owen blushed a bright red. "Sandy!" he protested. 

"What, you mean you *didn't* miss her?" Sandy asked in pretend outrage. 

"We all missed her." Giles said sincerely, stepping up to shake Buffy's hand. 

Buffy gave him a small smile. "Thanks. Angel said that I have you to thank for finding a cure for the poison." 

"Well, actually that was mostly Ms. Calendar's doing." Giles told her. "She's the computer teacher at Sunnydale High." 

"I'll have to thank her the next time I see her then." Buffy stated. A slight frown creased Buffy's forehead, and Angel wondered if she got the same uneasy feeling he did every time he thought about the young computer teacher. But her next words showed that her mind was on something else. "Du Lac! That was the name." 

There was a momentary silence, then Cordelia's voice rang out: "I thought this potion was supposed to cure her. If you ask me, she's crazier than ever." 

Buffy ignored her and turned to Giles: "Do you have his book at the library?" 

"Josephus Du Lac?" Giles asked. "Yes, I believe I do." 

Wesley frowned at Giles: "Du Lac's works were said to have been written in an archaic form of Latin that only his followers were able to understand. How do you know this one is an authentic text?" 

Giles shrugged: "My grandmother claimed that it was. She warned me that it is said to contain rituals and spells that reap unspeakable evil. However, I have never been able to make any sense of any of its passages. What do you need it for, Buffy?" 

"I don't, I just want to keep Spike from getting his hands on it." Then she added almost as an afterthought. "Actually it might be a good idea to move all the important books from the library to the mansion. As long as they are at the library any vampire can just walk in and borrow any book he likes." 

"That's never really been a problem. Vampires generally aren't all that interested in musty old books." Giles pointed out to her. "Who is this Spike and why does he want Du Lac's book?" 

Wesley cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "William, the Bloody, nicknamed Spike for his fondness of torturing his victims using railroad spikes. He is a fairly young vampire, only 125 years old. He is thought to have killed at least one Slayer, but his main notoriety stems from the fact that he was a member of a trio of vampires that cut a swath of devastation across Europe in the later part of the nineteenth century. Their leader, Angelus, is said to have sired both Spike and Drusilla - the third member of their little group." Angel winced as Wesley proceeded to give some examples of just what had made this vampire trio so notorious. He threw a quick look around the room, wondering how many of the people here that knew him to be a vampire realized that Wesley was actually talking about him.

Both Buffy and Giles looked like they had heard all of this before. The look on Oz' face told him that he had made the connection, but to Angel's surprise he seemed to be taking it in stride. Not so with Larry. His eyes held both outrage and condemnation as he listened to Wesley recounting some of the things Angelus' little band had been responsible for. Angel grimaced inwardly and looked away. 

"After their leader was killed just before the turn of the century, Spike and Drusilla crisscrossed the globe, never staying in one place for any length of time until Drusilla was killed by a mob in Prague." Wesley concluded his lecture. "Since then there has been an occasional mention of Spike, but nothing major. He was said to have been in Munich at the same time that Helga was killed, but it is not at all clear that he was actually responsible for the Slayer's death. He doesn't seem all that dangerous on his own." 

"Don't underestimate Spike." Angel spoke up reluctantly. "Once he starts something he doesn't stop until everything in his path is dead." 

"And Drusilla wasn't killed by that mob, just severely weakened." Buffy obviously enjoyed correcting her Watcher. "We saw them on our way over here. I'm guessing that Spike's here to find a way to restore Drusilla to full power. Which is were Du Lac comes in. If I remember right, Spike needs both the book and a special cross that was buried with Du Lac in one of the cemeteries here in Sunnydale." 

Giles considered this for a moment. "We should probably split up. You and Angel try to get the cross while the rest of us go to the library and load Oz' van up with books." 

"Okay. But be careful. Have someone as a look out at all times. If Spike shows up just get out of there and I'll deal with him later." Buffy admonished them.

As everybody got ready to leave, Wesley stepped forward to stop Buffy. "How do you know what Spike wants here? - Or are you just guessing?" 

"I know it the same way I knew about what you and the Council had planned for my birthday." She told him coldly. 

* * * 

Angel noticed that Buffy kept almost as close an eye on him as she did on their surroundings as they made their way through the cemetery. He didn't really blame her for distrusting him. He, Dru and Spike had been a pretty devastating trio as they made their way across Europe, but it hurt nevertheless that she obviously expected him to team up with them again now that they were back.

The cemetery was deserted and they found Du Lac's crypt and removed the cross without seeing a single vampire. They encountered several small groups as they made their way to the library, but all of them were young and inexperienced, giving them little trouble. 

Angel couldn't help but think that this was just too easy. Either Buffy was wrong about Spike being after these Du Lac artifacts or this was all a cleverly laid trap. 

They reached the library to find that the others had both Oz' and Buffy's van loaded full of books. Giles' car was parked behind the vans, its trunk full of books as well. 

"There you are." Giles greeted them relieved. "Did you find it?" 

"We got it." Buffy indicated the book-filled cars. "You've been busy." 

"Well, it was really Oz' idea to take as much as we had room for while we're at it." Giles shrugged. "We got the most important ones, including that Du Lac book you were after. Let me call the others and we can get all this moved to the mansion." 

* * * 

Three hours later they had it all stacked up in an unused room of the mansion. But Buffy appeared far from happy. 

"This was too easy!" Angel heard her mutter, echoing his own sentiment from earlier. 

"Maybe Spike isn't after these after all." Angel suggested quietly. 

"Maybe. I'm going to take a closer look at the specifics of this ritual. I guess I should have paid better attention to what Buffy and Giles were telling me." Buffy conceded grudgingly. "But until we know more, I don't want you going anywhere without me, is that understood?" 

Angel wondered what his double in the other Sunnydale had done that made Buffy want to keep such a close eye on him. "Okay. But just because something happened a certain way there, doesn't mean the exact same thing will happen here." 

* * * * * 

Spike didn't see the two people watching him from the front seat of the black mini-van as he wrapped a protective arm around Drusilla's thin shoulders to lead her back to their lair. 

"It's not safe for you to be out here alone, ducks." He reminded her softly. "Not until you're strong again. It would just kill me if anything happened to you, and you don't want that, do you, love?" 

Drusilla was looking back over her shoulder with a dreamy expression on her face: "I was looking for my Angel." 

Spike cursed inwardly. Angelus again. He thought she had finally given up on that after her search almost got both of them killed in Prague. 

"Angelus is gone, Dru, back to the hell he came from." Spike reminded her. 

Drusilla shook her head and smiled at him. "He is close. I can feel him. Oh, Spike, when do you think I'll get to see him?" 

Spike heart clenched with worry. Angelus was dead. For her to see him, Dru would have to die as well. 

After Prague he had tried everything he could think of to help her recover, but she kept getting weaker no matter what he did. He had even captured two Slayers for her to drain. But not even that had done more than slow her decline. 

He had been looking for yet another Slayer when he finally stumbled across the information that had led him here to Sunnydale on the trail of what he hoped would restore his dark princess to her full glory. 

If they could find it before Drusilla succumbed to her weakness. 

As if she could read his worries, Drusilla gave him another smile. "Don't worry, love, it'll be all right. You'll see." Her eyes took on the faraway look she often got when she talked about her visions. "I can see you, you and my Angel. And all the other demons are running in fear from my two boys." 

She lifted both her arms up above her head and began to dance to a music she alone could hear. 

* * * * * 

For long moments Alan Finch stared at the polished nameplate on the door in front of him. Richard Wilkins III - Mayor. There was nothing particularly threatening about that name or in the outward appearance of its owner. But appearances could be deceiving. 

Taking a deep breath and smoothing down his jacket one last time, Alan forced himself to open the door. 

"Ah, there you are, Alan." The mayor greeted him with a friendly smile. "You know, I'm always puzzled why people are so reluctant to inform me of bad news. I mean, it's not as if I'm going to bite their heads off!" 

A cold shiver ran down Alan's back. "Ah, no Sir." He agreed uneasily, then hurried on to his report. "It appears that a new group of vampires has taken up residence in one of the underground caves near the University of Sunnydale. Their leader, Spike, has quite a reputation among vampires. We don't have any reliable information on what brought him here, but he appears to be tunneling in the direction of Riverside Park." 

"Spike? Now what kind of a name is that for a vampire?" The mayor complained. "Well, we can't just have him digging wherever he feels like. There are too many things buried around here that he might stumble across. Have Brian bring in the map-book for that area. Let's see what it is our friend Spike is looking for." 

"Yes Sir." Alan shifted uncomfortably. 

Noticing that Alan had made no move to leave, the mayor raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Was there something else?" He prompted his assistant. 

"Yes Sir. It appears that it was indeed the Slayer that eliminated the group of Kailiff demons and vampires you sent to bring back the files that Prof. Stewart compiled on you." Alan saw the mayor's eyes narrow and hurried to add. "But the files have since been recovered, and there is no indication that the Slayer or anyone else connected to the White Hats was ever even aware of their existence. It appears that Dr. Stewart was telling the truth when he said that he would keep your secret as long as his needs would be met." 

"Well, it's nice to know that he had *some* decency left." The mayor remarked cheerfully, then he shook his head, his mood turning serious. "Nasty habit that, drugs. We really can't have someone like that teaching here at the University. What kind of a message would that send to our kids? Children are very important, Finch. They need to be taken care of." After a moment the mayor shook himself out of his momentary reverie and turned his attention back to his deputy. "I don't think that the Slayer or this new group of vampires will be a problem. We just need to make sure that we know exactly what they're all up to. Which I know you will see to." 

Alan tried to ignore the churning in his stomach and forced a shaky smile as the mayor clapped him encouragingly on the shoulder. 

* * 2 * * 

Buffy closed Du Lac's book with a satisfied snap. She had remembered right. Spike not only needed a copy of Du Lac's spell and Angel as Drusilla's Sire, he also needed the cross, both to decipher the text and to use the magical blade hidden within it to perform the ritual correctly. The spell itself was fairly simple and straightforward, but without a magical knife or Drusilla's Sire to siphon the necessary energy from, the spell itself was useless. 

Stretching her cramped muscles she got up to go and check on Giles and Angel, who were busy building bookshelves in what was to become the mansion's research library. 

Angel looked up as soon as she opened the door and turned off the miter-saw he had been using to cut the boards Giles was measuring out for him. 

"I'm done with the Du Lac book, so I thought I'd see if you guys need any help." She wrinkled her nose at the dust hanging thick in the air. "How can you breathe in here?" 

"Not a problem if you don't have to breathe." Angel shrugged. 

Giles pointed at the mask covering his nose and mouth, "Why do you think I'm wearing this?" 

"You should still open a window." Buffy said and went to do just that. "Now, what else can I do to help?" 

"Nothing at the moment." Giles said looking around. "If you really want to do something, you could start a pot of tea. I'm just about ready for a break." 

"Tea it is." Buffy told him as she headed back out to the kitchen. 

* * * 

After one last look around the kitchen to make sure that everything was ready, Buffy stuck her head into the library room. "Time for you two to dust yourselves off. Tea's ready." 

A few minutes later Giles came into the kitchen with Angel trailing uncertainly behind. 

"Why this is lovely." Giles told her taking in the sandwiches and the teapot sitting above a little candle to keep it warm. "Thank you." 

"Mrs. Houser tried her darndest to turn me into a good hostess. I guess some of it actually stuck." Buffy told him, as she took the oversized coffee mug out of the water-bath, stirred the blood one last time with the straw stuck in it, and handed it to Angel. "Hope it's the right temperature. This is one area that Mrs. Houser didn't cover." 

Angel gingerly reached out to accept the mug. 

"Tea?" Giles asked Buffy holding the pot over her cup. 

Buffy gave a dramatic shudder. "No, thank you. I may know how to brew tea the English way, but in true colonial fashion I much prefer to drink coffee instead." 

Giles smiled at her and shook his head. "You Americans are a sadly uncivilized lot." Then he looked over to where Angel was still standing motionless, staring at the cup in his hands. "Oh, do sit down, Angel. After all that sawing you deserve a peaceful spot of tea as much as the next man." 

After a moment Angel hesitantly sat down and slowly began to sip on the straw. 

The two men were arguing over rabbet and dovetail joints when there was a knock on the back door, followed by Wesley sticking his head in: "Buffy? Can I come in?" 

"If I say no will you go away?" Buffy asked hopefully. 

One corner of Angel's mouth twitched ever so slightly. 

Giles raised one of his eyebrows at her: "What happened to being a good hostess?" 

Buffy sighed. "What do you want, Wesley?" 

Taking that as an invitation Wesley came in. "I contacted the Council to let them know that I found you and that we were able to counteract the Manticore poison. They want to find out more about the formula, so they are sending a team out to talk with Ms. Calendar. They are also going to evaluate you, to make sure you're fully recovered." 

"A team. Who?" Buffy asked flatly. 

"The same team that you met in Franton." Wesley answered confirming her suspicions. 

"Mr. Travers and Dr. Warren are coming here? After they just tried to kill me?" Buffy narrowed her eyes at Wesley. 

"But Buffy, the poison..." Wesley began. 

He was interrupted by the door opening to reveal the rest of the White Hats plus Cordelia. 

"Hey, Buffy!" Sandy exclaimed, oblivious to the tension in the room. "We're going over to the Watery Wilds, and thought you'd like to come." 

"The Watery Wilds?" Wesley asked slightly confused. 

"New club with really cool lighting." Cordy informed him, then turned to Angel. "You should come, too. It's *the* place to go." 

"Thanks Cordelia, but I am helping Giles put up some shelves for his books." Angel told her evenly. 

"But you'll come?" Owen asked Buffy with a hopeful expression. "We never got to finish our date at the Winter Brunch. I figure this could be kind of a make-up date?" 

Buffy couldn't help but feel flattered at Owen's continued interest in her. "You know, that sounds really nice, but I don't know. I haven't been clubbing in - well, ever." 

"Not much to it. You just hang with your friends and dance. I'm sure you can do that without any problem." Sandy pointed out. 

"No, she can't." Wesley objected. "Buffy, you are the Slayer. You need to use any free time you have to study and train, not waste it by going off to some - club!" 

Buffy had just been about to refuse for exactly those reasons, but hearing Wesley give voice to them instantly changed her mind. "And here I thought the definition of 'Free Time' was to do something non-job-related. How silly of me!" 

* * * 

Buffy looked around at the pastel colored sheer curtains that hung everywhere, cutting the glare of the sun shining in through the glass roof, creating the illusion of some underwater landscape. "This is amazing." 

"Yeah, the Mayor's urban renewal committee actually came up with a winner here." Oz agreed as he pushed through the curtains to lead the way over to a table in the back of the club. "Ever have problems with demons or vampires joining the party?" Buffy couldn't help asking. 

"Gee, don't you ever think of anything else?" Cordelia asked slightly disgusted. 

Buffy flinched at the truth behind that question, but tried to hide it with a shrug and a nonchalant: "After almost four years of fighting demons and vampires on a daily basis, it's a survival instinct. Better safe than sorry."

"Way to suck the fun out of the - fun. No wonder no one ever asks you to go clubbing with them." Cordy's voice was dripping with pity. 

"We did." Owen pointed out. 

"I was talking about people that matter." Cordelia said dismissively. "Well, since Angel didn't come, I'll just have to see who else is here." She walked off without a backward glance 

"Never mind her. Let's go find a table." Sandy said leading the way deeper in the club. 

* * * * * 

Alan threw a nervous look over at the vampire standing next to the office doors. 

"So where exactly is this Spike guy digging?" The Mayor asked as he weighted down the corners of the map spread on the big conference table. 

"He's taken over this section of the sewers just east of Riverside Park." Alan hurriedly returned his attention to the Mayor and indicated the area on the map. "None of our people have actually been able to get a look at the tunnel itself, but it would have to be going west towards the Park. He'd run into sewer tunnels or septic tanks in almost every other direction." 

"Hmm, unless of course he's digging down, trying to connect with some of the deeper caves." The Mayor remarked. "Riverside. I'm trying to think what artifacts are buried in that quadrant. - It took me years to have all of them brought here. Not to mention all the work involved in distributing them around the Hellmouth to form just the right balance of forces. If this Spike removes the wrong one, I may have to settle for a less powerful demon-form to ascend to, and in that case I might as well not have bothered at all!" 

The Mayor strode over to a cabinet and removed a roll of clear tracing paper and overlaid it on the map. "Just look at the state the world is in now, and we haven't even reached the End of Days yet." The Mayor unrolled the tracing paper on top of the map, lining up certain marks on it with others on the map. "Well, there is the Stone of Varre under the south end of the park, Fedoral's sealed crypt and" The Mayor pointed at some area marked in gray. "unfortunately this." 

Alan leaned in for a closer look. "The old landfill? Is there something toxic buried there? You think that he is trying to poison the city?" 

"No, no, I would never allow anyone to bury any toxic waste in *my* city! This city is about clean and healthy living. No Lovecanal here!" The Mayor shook his head. "No, but if legend is right, this area is the burial site of some ancient evil. We can't have this Spike character trying to wake that up. The whole world could go straight to hell!" 

The Mayor rolled the tracing paper back up. "Well, we'll just have to make sure that that doesn't happen. Brian, who is the current leader of the Sunnydale vampires?" 

With a start Alan noticed that the vampire had left his place beside the door and was standing almost directly behind him. Alan shuddered at the eager gleam in his yellow eyes. 

"The one with the biggest following would be Willow." Brian told him with a toothy grin. 

"Hmm, I wonder what she would say if she knew that there was a new Master trying to horn in on her territory?" The Mayor turned towards Brian and gave him a friendly smile. "I think we should find out, don't you?" 

"I will see to it that she finds out as soon as possible." Brian assured the Mayor before leaving with an eager grin. 

The Mayor looked after Brian with a thoughtful expression on his face, then turned towards Alan. "Did Brian seem just a bit too eager to you?" 

"Ah, I..." Alan shifted nervously. All the vampires in the Mayor's employ always seemed to look at him like a juicy steak that they would be only to happy to eat, if he weren't under the Mayor's personal protection. "Maybe he was hungry?" 

"Hmm, what was it about Fedoral's crypt, I wonder..." Coming to a sudden decision, he straightened up. "I think we better call in the Slayer on this one. After all, it is her job to kill vampires. Just in case Spike finds the crypt before he is eliminated by the competition. If he finds the Ring of Amarra it'll cause all kinds of chaos." 

"The Ring of Amarra, Sir?" Alan asked confused. 

"Buried in the Fedoral crypt. Renders its wearer virtually unkillable - if the wearer happens to be a vampire." The Mayor told him shortly. "It won't do the Slayer any good, but to any vampire it's the equivalent of the Holy Grail." 

"But, Sir, what about the rumors that the White Hats have a vampire fighting on their side?" Alan wanted to know. 

"Oh, I don't find that very likely, especially since the Slayer has joined them. But there is a very easy way to make certain that any vampire that might be hiding in their midst gets exposed to the light of day. All it'll take is a quick call to an old friend." The Mayor assured him with a smile. 

* * 3 * * 

Wesley watched as Buffy danced around the punching bag, giving it an occasional jab or kick. Through the open door to the library room he could hear occasional snatches of speech as Angel and Mr. Giles sorted through the books and arranged them on the newly finished shelves. 

He checked the time on his watch. "Buffy, it is almost 10 o'clock. You should get cleaned up. Travers and the others will be arriving soon, and you'll want to look presentable when we go to meet them." 

Buffy did a quick spin-kick that sent the bag swaying away from her. "I'm meeting with Owen and the others to go to the Watery Wilds at eleven." She told him flatly. 

"What?" Wesley asked taken aback. "Buffy you can't! It is vitally important that you make a good impression on Travers and his team. Everything depends on what kind of report he sends back to the Council on you! Especially after what happened in Franton." 

Buffy gave an unladylike snort as she gave the bag another punch, accelerating its ponderous swings. "News flash for you, Wesley, I really don't give a rat's tail what the Council thinks of me. I don't need them, and after Franton I think I'd be much better off without them." 

Wesley stared at her, speechless, at a loss to understand this sudden hostility towards the Council. "How can you say that? As long as there have been Slayers, there have been Watchers. The Slayer is the weapon, the Watcher the mind that directs it. A Slayer *has* to have a Watcher!" 

"I am *not* a mindless weapon. You can't just reduce me to my Slayer-ness and conveniently ignore the rest. I am a person, Wesley, not a tool! And as a person, I am going to go to the Watery Wilds with my friends - not jump through all kinds of stupid hoops for a bunch of withered old sticks that don't have the slightest idea of who I am or - or what it means to be the Slayer!" 

Wesley stood open mouthed as she stormed off deeper into the mansion. 

"She does have a point, you know." Came Mr. Giles quiet voice from the library door. 

Wesley walked over to the sofa and slowly sat down. 

"I'd like to see you try to explain that point to Quentin Travers." Wesley told him dryly. "He is coming to evaluate Buffy. How am I going to explain to him that she isn't here? 'Sorry, my Slayer is unhappy about the Council trying to kill her instead of looking for a cure after she was poisoned, so she went - clubbing - with some local teens'? I'd be fired faster than you can say - Huffelpuff!" 

"Why don't you call Ms. Calendar and arrange for them to speak to her about the Manticore cure today? Then you can talk to Buffy tonight. But I suggest that you think carefully about what you're going to say to her. I don't think simply ordering to cooperate will have the desired effect." With that Mr. Giles turned and went back to organizing the new research library. 

* * * * * 

The house was quiet. Deserted, except for him and the vampire helping him shelve the books they had brought over from the library. Buffy had gone off to the Watery Wilds in spite of Wesley's repeated efforts to convince her that she was only making matters worse for herself by refusing to cooperate with Travers' team of Watchers. Wesley himself had left shortly thereafter to see if Ms. Calendar would be willing to help him distract the Council's representatives from the fact that Buffy had chosen this time to rebel against her Watcher. 

There was no love lost between Giles and the Watchers, not since what had happened with the Harvest, and Giles couldn't deny that he would enjoy watching Buffy give Quentin Travers a piece of her mind. But he didn't feel that this was the time for Buffy to take a break from her duties as the Slayer to amuse herself at some club. Not when they were faced with a serious threat in the form of Spike and his men and might well need to call on Council resources to help them defeat it. 

He had not missed the fact that Angel had stuck close to the Slayer during last night's patrol, clearly worried about the young girl's safety. And given Angel's history and experience, Giles was inclined to take his judgement over Wesley's easy dismissal of Spike as a threat. 

Thoughtfully running a hand along the back of the book he was about to shelve, he turned to the other man. "Angel, do you have *any* idea why Spike would want these Du Lac artifacts?" 

"From what I know about Du Lac's brotherhood, they did a lot of research into the dark arts, - rituals, spells, that sort of thing. But the Spike I knew never had much interest in any of that." Angel put the book he was holding on the shelf before he turned to look at Giles. "He preferred the direct, hands-on approach. If he had a weakness it was his impatience, which could make him abandon a well laid plan out of simple boredom, - unless he had a powerful incentive to stick with it." 

Giles felt a shiver run down his back at the slight smile that accompanied that last remark. He found himself wondering uneasily what type of incentive Angel might have given Spike to make him stick to his plans. 

One of the first things Giles had done after he had invited Angel to stay at his house was to investigate the vampire's past. There had been nothing for the last one hundred years or so, but what he found of his activities prior to that had been extremely vicious and sadistic even by vampire standards. 

Most times it was easy enough to forget that Angel was in fact a powerful vampire much older than Giles himself. He had found himself actually enjoying his company at times. He was well read and quite knowledgeable in the ancient languages and matters concerning the occult. But always there would come moments like this one, where he would catch a glimpse of what lay hidden below the façade of the quiet young man he appeared to be. 

"So you think that Buffy is wrong?" Giles asked him. 

"I don't know. From what she said, it sounded like these artifacts played an important role in something that happened in that parallel world she went to a month ago." Angel tensed and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe this is something Drusilla thought up. Spike would do almost anything for her." 

"What is it?" Giles frowned. 

Angel only motioned for him to be quiet as he moved stealthily towards the still partially open door. Giles watched in amazement as the vampire darted through, almost too fast for the eye to follow. There was some commotion, then the vampire was back dragging in a smaller man by the scruff his neck. 

"Hey, hey, is that any way to treat a harmless visitor?" The little man protested loudly. 

"Harmless?" Angel remarked in an amused voice as he knocked off his wide hat, revealing four small horns. 

"So I'm a demon. Doesn't mean that I'm a bad person! In fact I came here to offer the Slayer some very valuable information." The little demon continued. "In exchange for one tiny favor." 

"The Slayer is not really in the habit of doing favors for demons." Giles pointed out. 

"Look, all I want is a safe-pass that will get me on a ship to Hong Kong and out of Sunnydale and in exchange I'll tell you what that new vampire, Spike, is up to before it's too late stop him. I heard that the Slayer is real interested in him." The demon craned his neck around to look up at Angel still holding him. "And do you think you could let go of me now? It's not very comfortable to have someone choking you, you know." 

Angel let go of his neck and went to stand next to Giles his arms folded in front of him. 

"Who told you that the Slayer was interested in Spike?" Angel asked suspiciously. 

"I overheard it while I was delivering the Books of Ascension to the Mayor." The demon told him. 

"If you work for the Mayor why don't you just ask him to give you the necessary safe-pass?" Giles wanted to know. "He should be able to get you the necessary papers much easier than the Slayer could." 

When the demon hesitated to answer the question Angel filled the answer in for him. "Because it is the Mayor he is trying to get away from, am I right?" 

"Well, excuse me if I prefer to play it safe and not be anywhere near here when he makes his ascension! You would too if you had had a chance to look at those books. You'll be lucky if there is anything of the town left standing at the end of it!" The demon told Angel slightly insulted. "I haven't lived this long by taking unnecessary chances." 

Giles threw a questioning look over at Angel only to have the vampire shake his head almost imperceptibly, indicating that he didn't know what the demon was talking about any more than Giles did. 

"This ascension you are talking about, what exactly is it and what makes you think that the Mayor is planning to destroy Sunnydale?" Giles asked the little demon. 

"Nah-ah, I'm not touching that one. You squeal on the Mayor and you might as well make your funeral arrangements - if there is anything left to bury after he gets through with you that is. You want to know what the Mayor is up to, you go ask him yourself!" The demon shook his head vigorously and edged away from them. 

Giles decided to leave that line of inquiry for the moment. "What about Spike then?" 

"Spike, well, you know..." The demon suddenly turned and lunged towards the window beside him. Angel darted forward to grab a hold of him again, but the demon had enough momentum built up to drag Angel with him into the sunlight streaming in through the window. Angel's arm caught fire and the demon managed to wriggle free and jump through the window. 

* * * 

Giles finished bandaging the vampire's singed arm and closed the first aid kit. "So, what do you make of what that little demon said?" 

Angel pulled on a fresh shirt with a sigh. "I don't know anything about this ascension the Mayor supposedly is planning, but from the sounds of it Spike is the more immediate threat, and I think I have a way to find out more about what he is planning." 

"And that would be?" Giles asked. 

"I go and ask him." Angel told him simply. 

Giles felt his jaw drop open. "What? Even if you could trick him into telling you, how do you expect to get back... - oh." Realization dawned slowly. "You're going to pretend..." 

"Yeah." Angel confirmed Giles' speculation with a slight grimace. "And I better do it now. I know, Buffy asked me not to go anywhere without her, but I'm not sure this can wait until she gets back." 

"Not to mention the fact that your act is going to be much less convincing if you show up with the Slayer in tow." Giles agreed reluctantly. "Are you sure this is worth the risk you'll be taking?" 

Angel shrugged. "If there aren't any of the local vampires that know me with Spike, I should be safe enough." 

"That is rather a big if." Giles ran one hand through his hair. "Unfortunately I can't think of any better way, and that little demon did make it sound like we don't have much time to waste. In the meantime I will take a look at our newly organized books and see if I can find out what exactly an ascension is." 

* * 4 * * 

"Earth to Giles! Anybody home?" 

Giles looked up from the book he had been trying to translate, startled to find Buffy standing next to him, an amused expression on her face. "Sorry to interrupt the Greek chorus singing in your ears." Buffy craned her neck to get a look at the books spread out on the table in front of him. "What are you reading?" 

"I'm looking for any mention of something called an ascension," Giles told her. "But so far no luck." 

"Ascension, huh?" Buffy pushed some of the books aside and sat down on the edge of the table. "Who's planing to ascend to what?" 

"Possibly the Mayor of Sunnydale, and I have no idea as to what." Giles pushed up his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. 

"Did you ask Angel? He might know something." Buffy threw a quick look around the room. "Where is he anyway?" 

"He went to find out what Spike is up to, and no, he doesn't know anything about an ascension." With a sigh Giles reached for the next book in the stack beside his elbow. 

Buffy jumped off the table. "And you just let him go?" 

"He's been alive for more than 200 years. He can take care of himself." Giles pointed out to her. "Besides, his plan has a better chance of success than trying to chase down that little Xangi demon in hopes of getting it to talk." 

"What Xangi demon?" Buffy asked a little confused. 

Giles quickly filled her in on what had happened while she had been gone. 

"And you didn't even try to follow it?" Buffy demanded. 

"Angel caught fire just trying to stop it from jumping out the window. And the Slayer was otherwise occupied." Giles told her reprovingly. 

"Is he alright?" 

Seeing the chastised expression on her face, Giles relented with a sigh. "I hope so. No matter what he says, he is taking quite a chance going into Spike's lair pretending to be his old self." 

"He did what?!" Buffy had turned as white as a sheet. "Giles, how could you? They're going to kill him to restore Drusilla." 

Giles frowned at her. "What are you talking about?" 

"Drusilla, Angel's her Sire. The Du Lac ritual will restore a weakened vampire by siphoning the power from the Sire, killing him in the process!" Buffy told him agitated. 

Giles blinked. "Does Angel know that?" 

Buffy shook her head as she started to leave the room. "I have to stop him!" 

"Buffy, he left almost an hour ago. I doubt you'd catch up with him before he reaches Spike." Giles got up and followed her out into the main room. "And what if you're wrong about Spike's plan? If you barge in there and blow his cover, all you're likely to achieve is to get both of you killed!" 

Buffy ignored him, heading towards her room, and before he could try again the telephone rang. 

Giles picked it up impatiently. "Yes?" 

"Hello, Mr. Giles," came Wesley's voice, "I went to speak to Buffy at the club, to try and get her to relent, but she wasn't there." 

"She's here." Giles told him curtly. 

"Oh, good! I knew she would come to her senses." Wesley sounded relieved. "We'll be right over." 

"Wesley..." Giles began, but the line was dead. 

Giles hung up the phone as Buffy came back into the room, now dressed in her slaying gear and equipped with weapons. 

"Buffy, you don't even know where Spike is holed up." Giles pointed out to her. "Why don't you give Angel some time..." 

"And possibly trade a fully empowered Drusilla for a dead Angel? No thanks." Buffy interrupted him. 

"What about Wesley and the Council team? They are on their way over right now..." Giles shifted his angle of attack. 

Buffy didn't even bother to answer. 

"Buffy..." Giles trailed off as the door slammed shut behind her. 

For the first time he found himself feeling sorry for Wesley, caught between this headstrong Slayer and the Council. With a sigh he went back to his books. 

* * * * * 

Wesley led the way into the mansion. "Ms. Summers?" 

For a moment there was no answer, then Mr. Giles stepped out of the library room holding an open book. 

"She left to investigate a tip we received on what Spike has planned," he told Wesley. Then he turned to face the little group of Watchers. "Hello, Quentin." "Rupert." Travers responded with a haughty nod. 

Wesley could almost feel the temperature in the room drop as the two older men stared at each other across the length of the room. 

"Is that what you're researching - Spike's new plan?" Wesley asked in an effort to break the tension. 

Giles looked down at the book in his hands. "Actually I'm looking for something called an 'ascension,' but so far I haven't had much luck." 

"Ascension?" Wesley frowned trying to place that name. "Do you have a copy of the Marenschadt Text?" 

"Second bookcase, third shelf," Giles answered, and Wesley went looking for the half-remembered passage, forgetting for the moment about Travers and the others. 

"Ah, yes, yes, here we are. In the section on genocide there's a reference to the journal of Desmond Kane, pastor of a town called Sharpsville." Wesley, proud to have remembered correctly, began to read from the book. "May 26, 1723. Tomorrow is the Ascension. God help us all." He looked up from the book at Mr. Giles. "That's the last anyone heard." 

"Of Kane?" Giles asked him. 

Wesley shook his head in dismay. "Of Sharpsville. The town more or less disappeared." 

"An ascension is a supposed to be a way to become a true demon." Dr. Warren spoke up from besides Mr. Travers. "About eight hundred years ago in the Kastka Valleys above the Urals, there was supposed to be a sorcerer there who achieved Ascension and became the embodiment of the demon Lohesh, a four-winged soul-killing demon. The monk that wrote down the report claims to have been the only survivor." 

"But Spike is a vampire, why would he want to ascend?" Wesley asked a bit confused. 

"A vampire trying to turn into a Greater Demon! What utter nonsense." Mr. Travers snorted contemptuously. "Where did you get this tip? Another vampire? I would say that this 'tip' can be safely ignored." 

"Just like you decided that the tip about the Harvest was utter nonsense?" Giles countered, sharp sarcasm coloring his voice. "You certainly have infallible instincts when it comes to these kinds of things." 

Wesley watched fascinated as Mr. Travers turned an unbecoming shade of mauve, looking ready to explode, but Mr. Giles didn't give him any time for a rebuttal. 

"And this doesn't concern Spike. This tip concerns the Mayor of Sunnydale." 

To Wesley's surprise instead of launching into an irate rebuttal, Mr. Travers calmed instantly. 

"The Mayor. I should have guessed," Travers said with a sneer. "It may be a time-honored tradition to discredit your accuser in an effort to discredit their accusations, but I assure you that it will not work with me. I am disappointed that you think so little of me, Rupert." 

"You have no idea how *little* I think of you, Quentin - besides wishing that you would roast in the hell your stupidity helped create, that is. Would you mind telling me what the *devil* you are talking about?" Mr. Giles asked. 

"What better way to distract from your own demonic connections? The Mayor has a sterling record. He is the one that kept this town together despite all the recent disasters. He set a shining example for all the other cities around the world to follow. I can't believe that you would stoop to dragging his reputation into the mud." Travers elaborated. 

"What demonic connections?" Mr. Giles leaned back against the doorframe to the library and brushed his fingers over a tattoo on his right arm just visible below his rolled up sleeves.

Wesley thought he sounded a bit defensive and wondered why. 

"I'm talking about hiding a vampire spy in the ranks of your so called 'White Hats' of course." Mr. Travers finished triumphantly. 

"What?!?" Wesley burst out in disbelief. "This is absolutely preposterous! I myself have worked closely with all of them, and I can assure you that I would have spotted it immediately if one of them had been a vampire. No vampire would be able to hide its nature from any Watcher worth his salt!" 

Mr. Travers just looked from Wesley to Mr. Giles and back. "I guess we'll see if you're worth your salt then, won't we?" 

* * * * * 

Spike stepped into the room he had set aside as their bedroom and looked down at his sleeping goddess. She still looked so beautiful, even though she was but a shadow of the vampire she used to be. He was almost afraid to touch her, afraid that she would shatter into a thousand motes of dust. 

Leaning down he brushed the lightest of kisses against her forehead. "Dru, baby, wake up sweetheart." 

Her eyes opened and fastened on him with a dreamy expression. 

"Spike." A slow smile spread across her face. "I was dreaming." 

"About our future?" Spike asked running one hand through her silky dark hair barely able to rein in his excitement. "We've found it, Dru. The Crypt. We're about to break through its floor."

"The gem of Amarra..." Dru's eyes lit up at the mention of it. 

"Your cure." He held out a hand to help her up. 

She melted into his embrace. "My cure. Oh, Spike it has been so long!" 

"Forever," he agreed fervently, holding her as if she were made of spun, all the while longing for so much more. Soon, he told himself, soon she would be strong again. His black goddess of death. And together they would paint the world red. "We'll have a party." 

"With flowers and dancing." Drusilla closed her eyes and leaned back in his arms. 

"Anything you like, pet." Spike promised her. 

"And we'll invite my Angel." Dru suggested with a dreamy smile. 

"Dru," Spike told her exasperated, "when are you going to get through your beautiful head that he's dead?" 

Drusilla pulled away from him with a whimper and picked up one of her dolls, clutching it to her chest. 

Spike immediately regretted his harsh tone. "Sorry, pet. You want to invite a bloody ghost to your party, you go right ahead. Might be fun to have him scare the other guests." 

Dru only curled up tighter around her little doll. 

"Come on, ducks," Spike coaxed her, "let's find you that gem. Make you feel all better." 

"Do you love me, Spike?" Dru's pitiful expression cut straight to his heart. 

"Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet." He reassured her. 

Giving him a wavering smile she finally uncurled from around her doll and let him lead her out of the room. 

* * 5 * * 

Spike helped Drusilla up through the hole, then looked around the dusty crypt. 

"And how am I supposed to find the gem in all of this?" He asked disgustedly. "This place is a royal mess!" 

"Shh," Drusilla laid one hand on his chest, "I'll find it, never you fret." 

With that she closed her eyes and slowly started to move around the crowded crypt. Spike followed her, keeping one hand on her arm to guide her around the obstacles in her path. 

Finally she stopped in front of a table holding a collection of jewelry and weapons. She picked up a small ring and slid it home on her finger. 

Spike could see the strength return to her transparent features. Her eyes slowly opened and the fire that snapped in their depth chased any remaining doubt away. 

"You're back." He made no attempt to stop the silly smile he felt spreading across his face. 

Drusilla returned his smile with one of her own. "I want to have my party," she looked around the crypt, "right here." 

"There isn't enough room in here to turn around, ducks, much less have a party. You won't be able to invite any guest if we have a party in here." Spike pointed out to her. "Tell you what, I'll have the boys haul this stuff down into the main hall and we'll have your party there." 

"It'll be a great party." Drusilla grinned at him. "You'll never forget it, I'll promise." 

* * *

Spike walked into the main cavern rubbing his hands together. "Okay, people, I want you to go through the stuff up in the crypt and bring down anything that's halfway decent. We're going to give a party for the vampires of Sunnydale." 

"A party? What's the occasion?" 

Spike spun around his mouth dropping open at the sound of that voice. "Angelus?" 

"Hello, Spike." Angelus sauntered into the room as if he owned it. 

"My Angel!" Drusilla exclaimed delighted as she followed Spike into the cavern. 

"Hey, Dru." For a moment Spike thought that he saw something like surprise flicker across Angelus face. "You're looking especially radiant tonight." 

"It's the nice ring my Spike gave me." Drusilla held her hand out for her Sire's inspection. 

Drusilla let out a girlish giggle as Angelus drew her hand up to his lips and kissed it lightly. 

"I'll be damned!" Spike shook his head in amazement. "Should have known better than to write you off! How did you get in here though?" 

"Just walked in." Angelus shrugged, dropping Drusilla's hand. "You really should have someone out there watching your perimeter." 

"I did." Spike grabbed one of the vampires carrying an armload of swords and spears in from the crypt. "You. Go get a couple of your mates and check on the guards out in the tunnels." 

He watched to make sure that his orders were obeyed then turned back to Angelus. "God, it's been ages! So, what's new with you?" 

"Everything." Angelus told him, a sardonic smile playing across his lips. 

Spike grinned. Same old Angelus, still working hard on his vampire image. Spike himself had never cared much for all the fancy frills that Angelus put into all he did, much too elaborate and time consuming. 

"So what are you doing here in Sunnydale?" 

Angelus looked down at his hands. "Making new friends and enemies. You know that the Master is dead?" 

"Heard that he opened the Hellmouth." Spike grimaced. "Stupid idea that, if you ask me. I liked the world much better before it got so damn crowded. You used to be able to just go out and take your pick of who you wanted to bite." Spike shook his head. "Not anymore. Now you're lucky to find anything halfway decent to eat. - Who finally killed the old bat?" 

"Actually, he did." 

Spike turned to see a red-haired girl in a skintight black leather outfit walking into the room followed by a big group of vampires that quickly spread out behind her. 

"Really?" Spike regarded his Sire with newfound respect. "And who is this girl then?" 

"That," Angelus said flatly, "would be one of the enemies I made." 

"I don't like her, Spike," Dru complained, "she makes my head feel all funny." 

"We won't invite her to your party then, ducks." Spike answered her automatically. 

"But I came all this way just to get my party favor." The redhead told him with a lazy grin. "A certain little gem?" 

"The ring is mine! My Spikey gave it to *me*." Drusilla said cradling the hand with the ring against her chest. 

"Dru..." Spike sighed exasperated. Why did she have to go and let them know she had it? He shook his head and turned his attention back to his opponent. "Forget it, red. No party favors for uninvited guests. I'm afraid you'll just have to leave without it." 

"My name is Willow, not red." All sleepiness vanished from her expression just before she morphed into her vampire face. "And I always get what I want, don't I, Puppy?" 

Puppy? Spike threw a questioning glance in Angelus direction and was not surprised at the hatred snapping in his eyes as he watched Willow. Well, at least he didn't have to wonder who his Sire would side with in the upcoming fight, and Angelus had always been a fighter to be reckoned with. Feeling more confident, despite the fact that the odds were against them, Spike gave Willow a cocky smile. 

"Not this time," he told her confidently even as he launched himself at the nearest vampire. 

Angelus followed right behind him. The two of them automatically fell into fighting as a team the way they had done so often before Angelus had disappeared. Spike was having a gay old time of it. Or he did until he was distracted from pummeling a shorthaired blonde by Dru calling his name. 

Tossing the blonde at Angelus, who promptly staked her, Spike looked around for Dru. 

He spotted her being held between two burly vampires. A third, dark-haired vampire was pulling the ring off her hand while the red-haired leader stood watching them with a smile. 

Picking up a splinter from a smashed chair with each hand, Spike barreled across the room and staked the two vampires on Drusilla's right. 

Willow screamed "Xander!" even as the burly vampire holding onto Drusilla went up in a cloud of dust. To Spike's surprise the other one just stared down at the stake protruding from his chest, then back up at Spike. A cold smile slowly spread across Xander's face as he wrapped one hand around the stake and pulled it back out.

Spike stared in disbelief as the wound closed up as if it had never been and had to stumble back to avoid getting staked himself. 

Drusilla let out an enraged scream as she shifted into her vampire face and launched herself at Xander. "Nobody hurts my Spike!" she hissed at him. Her fingers clawed deep, bloody furrows down the side of Xander's face but they healed over almost as soon as they appeared. 

Letting out an annoyed growl and shifting into his vamp face. Xander pushed Drusilla off him impatiently, and Spike watched horrified as the stake in Xander's hand buried itself in Drusilla's chest. 

"Spike..." Drusilla whispered, reaching out for him even as she crumbled to dust. 

A scream forcing its way up from the depths of his chest, Spike kicked out against Xander's leg. Xander threw his hands up, trying to keep his balance. A sword blade came whistling through the air. Spike caught a flash of green as a severed hand sailed through the air, but at that moment he couldn't have cared less where the Gem of Amarra went. All that he could see was the look on Drusilla's face as she turned to dust. 

Ripping the sword out of Angelus' grip, Spike launched himself at Xander, who was cradling his bleeding wrist against his chest. He could have easily killed him by cutting off his head, but that would have been too easy. He wanted to make him pay for killing Drusilla - to make him hurt the way Spike himself was hurting. 

* * * * * 

Buffy stalked along the sewer tunnel. She had beaten up the first vampire she had run into, making it tell her where Spike's lair was, but she was still angry. And the irritating thing was that she couldn't decide who she was angry with. Angel for breaking his promise of not going anywhere without her, Giles for letting him go, or herself for not telling Angel what Spike had planned for him. 

She heard a pair of footsteps echoing through the tunnels, coming closer, and pressed herself into a little niche in the wall. Peeking around the edge she spotted one vampire being chased by a second one. Letting the first run past her, she stepped in front of its pursuer and staked him in one smooth motion. 

Throwing a look after the fleeing vampire, she continued on her way. 

As she reached the next bend in the tunnel she caught muffled sounds of fighting coming from further ahead. 

She broke into a run, telling herself firmly that they wouldn't kill Angel, since they needed him alive for the ritual and if they were fighting, they couldn't be doing the ritual, so Angel had to still be alive. 

She hoped. 

She never heard the vampire coming towards her until she rounded the next corner and ran straight into him. 

They tumbled to the floor together. 

"I really don't have time for this!" Buffy said as she buried a stake in the vampire's heart. But instead of bursting into ash the vampire just laughed in her face and wrapped both of his hands around her throat. 

One part of her mind noted the fact that the crosses on her choker weren't burning him, but most of her attention was focused on keeping him from choking her. She kicked him hard between the legs. It didn't quite have the desired effect, but it made him flinch away enough that she was able to plant a foot in his stomach and kick him off her. 

Gasping for air, she forced herself back to her feet. "Whatever happened to exploding into dust like any self-respecting vamp?" she gasped. 

The vampire gave her a toothy grin. "Got myself a little life insurance." 

"What is it?" Buffy asked, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and ripping it open. "Some kind of amulet?" 

"Of course not!" The vampire scoffed. But he looked a lot less smug and Buffy saw him putting his left hand behind his back. "Okay, if it isn't an amulet," Buffy darted behind him, wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled his hand up to look at it, "how about a ring?" 

"No! Don't touch that, or it'll kill us both!" The vampire warned her, sounding really scared now. 

"Oh yeah?" 

Buffy forced his hand up where she could reach it with her other one and pulled the ring off the squirming vampire's hand. The only thing that happened was the vampire struggling even harder to get free. 

Tightening her arm around his neck, Buffy stuffed the ring into her pocket and pulled out a stake instead. 

"No! Please wait. I have information. Valuable information about the Mayor!" The vampire sounded desperate now. 

"Like what?" Buffy didn't try to disguise the contempt she felt. 

"I bet you didn't know that he is planning to become a demon!" The vampire told her triumphantly. 

"Ritual of Ascension," Buffy told him impatiently. "Tell me something I don't know. Like how to kill him." 

"You can't kill him. Nothing can harm him. One of the Fyarl demons got mad one day and cleaved his head in half with its axe, right down to his chin." The vampire licked his lips nervously. "It just melted back together, and he laughed. Laughed! And then he had the same done to the Fyarl, using his own axe." 

Buffy could feel the vampire shiver against her. 

"Well, that isn't very helpful now, is it?" Buffy asked him, refusing to acknowledge the dread she felt creeping up her spine. "Since you don't have anything of value to tell me..." 

Buffy pushed the stake deeper into his chest. 

"Wait! I helped design the Watery Wilds for him. He wanted to have a place where there would be a lot of kids for him to eat right after he turns into a demon!" The vampire added hurriedly. "Doesn't that help?" 

Buffy pretended to think about it. "What would help would be to know what type of demon, and when," she told him and felt him sag in her grip. 

"I don't know," the vampire admitted sounding defeated. 

"Too bad," Buffy told him as she slid the stake home. 

Dusting herself off, she hurried down the tunnel following the sounds of fighting. 

She blinked her eyes in disbelief as she took in the scene in the cavern before her. There were vampires fighting each other everywhere. Willow and Spike were hissing and spitting at each other like two enraged cats, fighting next to a badly mutilated body curled in on itself. 

Her first thought was that that must be Angel and her heart almost stopped. But then the she got a better look at it and realized that it was Xander. 

Dismissing him from her thoughts she looked around for Angel and spotted him off to her left. He had been backed into a corner by four other vampires, and the only reason they hadn't taken him down yet was that they couldn't all get at him at the same time. 

Hurrying over, she staked one, kicked two others out of the way, grabbed a hold of Angel's hand and pulled him towards the exit. 

Angel looked back over his shoulder and slowed as they neared the exit. "Spike." 

"We'll stake him some other time." Buffy told him, tugging harder. "We're way outnumbered here." 

After another moment of hesitation Angel let her pull him out into the tunnels. 

* * 6 * *

"You think I'm a what?" Cordelia's outraged voice rang across the room. "Please! My fashion sense alone should be proof enough that I'm no vampire!"

"Yes, Cordelia," Giles tried to speed things along, in the hopes of getting the Council team out of here before Buffy and Angel came back, "but why don't you touch that cross anyway - just to humor them?"

Giving a long suffering sigh, Cordelia reached out and put one hand on top of the cross, then pulled it back with a look of horror and quickly hid it in the folds of her skirt.

"Aha!" Quentin pounced on Cordelia and pulled up her hand.

"Hey, you big creep, get your filthy paws off of me!" Cordelia protested even as Quentin pushed a cross up against the side of her face. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked as she pushed the cross away. "You'll mess up my foundation!"

Giles watched amused as Quentin stared at her unmarked cheek, then at the cross in his hand.

"But, but," Quentin sputtered, "your hand – why did you pull it away if the cross didn't burn you?"

"A broken nail?" Sandy suggested innocently.

"From staking that junkie vampire last night. There is a limit to how much one individual should have to sacrifice for the common good!" Cordelia told the bewildered Watchers.

"Truly a monumental sacrifice." Giles remarked sarcastically.

"At least someone around her appreciates me!" Cordelia said shooting a glare at the rest of the White Hats.

"I appreciate you." Wesley told her sincerely.

Giles barely kept from rolling his eyes at Wesley. Buffy might find her Watcher's infatuation with Cordelia amusing but Giles thought it was nothing short of irritating.

"So is that all of your White Hats?" Dr. Warren asked Giles, but it was Cordelia that answered.

"Yeah - except for Buffy and Angel. And it's not that I don't appreciate you sending them, but you sure took your sweet old time about it. We really could have used them here three years ago when this whole thing first started!" Giles groaned inwardly at Cordelia's mention of Angel.

"Angel? Who is this Angel?" Quentin demanded.

"Cute guy who knows how to dress with some style," Cordelia threw a disparaging look at Larry and Owen, "unlike some people around here. - Even if he does always go with dark on dark. Where is he anyway? He never goes out during the day."

Giles could cheerfully have throttled Cordelia for adding that last part.

"Rupert?" Quentin raised his eyebrows at him.

His hands itched with the need to wipe that smug expression of the older man's face. "He went to spy on Spike." He told him shortly, for the first time glad that the vampire had insisted on going.

"How convenient for you." Quentin said dryly.

"What's convenient?" Giles heart sank as he heard Buffy's voice.

"Ms. Summers." Quentin greeted her, but his eyes were locked on Angel following in Buffy's shadow. "Hiding in the basement? I thought you were out spying on some vampire?"

Buffy stopped just inside the room and folded her arms across her body. "We were. We just came up from the sewers."

"Why not use the nearest manhole?" Quentin asked blandly.

Buffy eyed the older man warily. "It tends to scare people when things pop out of the ground - they can get downright hostile. What's this all about?"

"Oh, old foggy here claims one of us is a vampire." Cordelia told her with a huff. "He's been using it as an excuse to paw people and stick crosses in their faces."

"A vampire." Buffy's eyebrows shot up at that. Then a slight smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. "Crosses, huh?"

Giles watched her stick a hand into one of her pockets then reach back without turning around and take a hold of Angel's left hand. He saw Angel's eyes widen in surprise and thought he saw a flash of green as the vampire pulled his hand away from Buffy and stuffed it into his pants pocket.

"Was this your idea?" Buffy asked her Watcher.

"It most certainly was not!" Wesley told her firmly. "I assured him that there was no way a vampire could have hidden its nature from a fully trained Watcher like me," then he added almost as an afterthought, "or from a Slayer, for that matter."

"The tip came from the Mayor of Sunnydale." Giles informed her dryly.

"Did it? What a charming fellow." Buffy shook her head. "Just wait till you hear what I found out about him while I was out looking for Angel."

Giles felt like throwing his hands up. Was she *trying* to draw attention to Angel?

"I thought the two of you went out together?" Quentin threw a speculative look at Giles, who he hoped that his face showed none of the frustration he felt.

"No, I went after him once Giles told me where he had gone." Buffy told him with a smile.

"And you didn't think him going out like that suspicious?" Quentin asked her contemptuously.

"Reckless and stupid, yes." Buffy said throwing a hard look at Angel, who ducked his head. "Suspicious? No."

Giles attempted to change the subject one last time. "Buffy, you said that you found out something more about the Mayor?"

Buffy nodded. "Wants to turn into a demon. Don't know what kind, or when, only that he has to chow down on a bunch of kids right after and that he is planing to use the Watery Wilds as his smorgasbord."

"That would pretty much ruin the only good club around." Oz said from where he sat on the edge of the table. "I say we take him out before he turns into a demon."

"Easier said than done." Buffy told him. "He's supposed to be invulnerable. One of his demon underlings got mad and split his head open with an ax - didn't kill him."

"Just because he can't be killed doesn't mean he can't be defeated." Angel pointed out. "There was this demon, called forth to separate the righteous from the wicked – and burn the righteous down..."

"Called the Judge. He couldn't be killed either, right?" Wesley chimed in.

Angel nodded. "A whole army was sent against him. Most of them died but they were able to dismember him. The pieces were scattered... buried in every corner of the Earth."

"Eeew! How gross it that!" Cordelia wrinkled up her nose in disgust.

"We'll use it as a last resort." Buffy assured her. "Let's first find out..." 

Travers interrupted Buffy, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Don't think that I don't know what you're trying to do here, young lady!"

"My job?" Buffy batted her eyes at him innocently.

Travers glared at her. "It is the Slayer's job to kill vampires, not to protect them."

"Oh, for the love of God!" Wesley exclaimed exasperated. "This is ridiculous!"

Giles tensed as Wesley pulled out a cross and tossed it to Angel, then felt his jaw drop as the vampire calmly caught it and turned it curiously between his hands, completely unaffected by it.

"Now can we concentrate on finding out if this ascension threat is real and what to do about it?" Wesley asked throwing a challenging look around the room. "Good. Dr. Warren would you please contact the archivists and ask them so send us whatever they can find on this ritual of Ascension? The rest of us will start with the books we have here."

Giles was only half listening, his mouth dropping open as he watched Angel walk over to stand in the beam of sunlight streaming in through the nearest window.

"I could do an online search." Oz suggested. "And we could ask Ms. Calendar to see what she can find out from her contacts."

At the mention of Ms. Calendar, Giles pulled his attention away from the puzzle of Angel's sudden immunity to sunlight and crosses.

"I'll go talk to her." He volunteered, glad that this would give him an excuse to avoid the other Watchers.

"Good." Wesley gave his approval, then turned to Buffy and Angel: "What about Spike and Drusilla?"

"Drusilla is dead. Xander staked her." Angel told him, one hand pressed up against the glass of the window.

"And the last I saw of Spike, he and Willow were busy killing each other." Buffy added.

"I'd love to stick around, flipping through musty old books, but I have to pick up my dress for tomorrow's Valentine's dance, and find a press-on that will *stay* on." With that Cordelia picked up her sweater and left.

Oz held up a hand to get everyone's attention. "Ah, guys? The dance - the Mayor is supposed to be there, presenting the awards for the poetry competition."

"Is it at the Watery Wilds?" Buffy wanted to know.

"No." Sandy answered. "And the Mayor shows up at most of these functions - since they are sponsored by City Hall as part of their Urban Renewal program."

"And don't forget that we have only a demon's word that the Mayor is planing to ascend at all." Travers reminded them all ponderously. "Let's not jump to any hasty conclusions here."

"Such as thinking that one of the White Hats is a vampire?" Wesley asked Travers blandly.

"That information did *not* come from a demon!" Travers defended himself.

"No, only a wanna-be demon." Buffy countered.

"Whether or not that Xangi was telling the truth – it might still be a good idea if Buffy went to any function with both the Mayor and a lot of kids present until we know more about this." Giles held up a hand to forestall Quentin Travers' protest. "Just as a precaution."

Travers pressed his mouth together into a thin line, but remained quiet.

"I've again been asked to act as a chaperone," Giles continued, "I think I can bring Wesley along for support, the way I did for the Winter Brunch. I don't know what reason we could give for any of the other Watchers to be there, but it might be a good idea if you and your people kept close as well. If something *should* happen, we will need as many people that will keep their head and know how fight as we can get."

"I have an idea how we can bring in a couple more Watchers – us girls could take some as dates." Sandy suggested, eyeing one of the younger Watchers standing behind Dr. Warren.

Giles' eyebrows shot up. "That – is actually a very good idea. Quentin, if you could pick four good fighters from the younger members of your team..."

"Three," Buffy interrupted him. "I'll take Angel. He's the best fighter we have."

"Ooh, Cordy is going to kill you!" Sandy crowed delighted. "After everything she's tried to get him to go on a date with her..."

Buffy shot a withering glare in Sandy's direction. "This is not a date," she corrected her, "this is strictly business!"

* * 7 * *

"How are you coming with that text the archivists faxed us?" Dr. Warren asked.

Intent on finishing the last passage, Angel answered him without looking up. "Almost done."

"Indeed?" Dr. Warren looked up from his book in surprise. "You actually recognize the language?"

"It's Tharsy, an obscure demonic language that was adopted by the Brothers of Aurelius," Angel answered preoccupied. "The text does talk about Lohesh - as well as several other true demons, but I don't think it's going to be of much help."

"You know Tharsy?" Dr. Warren asked, clearly impressed.

"And just how," Quentin Travers demanded, coming up next to him, "did you learn a language that has eluded the Council's best demonologists for years?"

Angel put down his pen and met Travers' challenging stare evenly. "Learned it from a lady I met."

"Oh?" That one syllable held a world of speculation.

"I'd been stuck at home all of my life, and she offered to show me the world. I was young and she was beautiful." Angel explained shortly, getting up from his chair.

Dr. Warren nodded his understanding and started to read Angel's translation, but Mr. Travers demanded incredulously: "And you just took her up on that invitation?"

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into." Angel told him with a slight grimace at the understatement contained in those words. It had been Darla, his Sire, that had taught him Tharsy – as well as a lot of other things. "Eventually I came to my senses," – 'when the gypsies cursed me with my soul' – "and we parted company."

"And just who – or should I say what? - was this lady; and what did you do during your time with her?" Travers asked suspiciously.

'Killed and tortured a lot of people – and enjoyed it,' Angel thought, but out loud he said: "Saw the world, just like she had promised."

Travers was about to dig deeper, but Dr. Warren interrupted him. "Oh, let the man be, Quentin. A few youthful indiscretions do not make him an evil person or - as you suspected - a vampire." 

Angel winced slightly at just how far off from the truth that statement was – on all counts.

Dr. Warren saw it and gave him an encouraging smile. "We all have things in our past that we'd rather not talk about. The important part is that you did come to your senses, and whatever regrets you have from that time, don't forget the good that came from it. Both Mr. Wyndham-Pryce and Ms. Summers have mentioned your fighting skills, but the knowledge you acquired during that time might prove even more valuable than that."

'Not valuable enough to make up even for a tenth of what I did after becoming a vampire' Angel thought, but stayed quiet.

"There are other writings I would like you to take a look at, if you don't mind," Warren continued, "but - later. You have been helping with the research ever since you got back from patrol with the Slayer. The sun will be up soon. Go. Get some rest."

Feeling like a fraud, Angel turned to leave, though he had no intention of going to bed. Vampires needed very little sleep to begin with and the Gem of Amarra reduced that need even further.

Travers stepped in front of him. "You may not be a vampire, but I still don't trust you."

Angel met the other man's eyes squarely but remained silent.

"You are hiding something - and I intend to find out what. I will not let you harm the Slayer or the Council!" Travers warned him.

"I would never harm Buffy," Angel told him quietly.

Travers gave him a sour look, clearly noticing the omission of the Council from that last statement, but didn't say anything more.

The first thing Angel saw when he entered the living room was Buffy curled up asleep on the sofa with an open book precariously balanced on her lap. Careful not to wake her, he pulled the book out from under her hands and set it down on the table.

He straightened up and found himself face to face with Ms. Calendar leaning in the doorway to the kitchen with a steaming cup cradled between her fingers.

For a long moment they looked at each other in silence. Angel once again tried to pin down what it was about her that made him feel so uneasy, but there were only some half-formed wisps of memory that refused to come clear.

Ms. Calendar was the first to break the silence. "Rupert made a fresh pot of coffee," she said, holding up her cup, "would you like some?"

"I don't drink coffee," Angel told her, then added a bit defensively at the look in her eye, "the caffeine makes me jittery," before turning away to add another log to the fire burning in the open fireplace.

"Rupert tells me that you have been a big help to him and the others – going out with them on patrol every night."

It wasn't really a question, but Angel felt like she was continuing the interrogation where Travers had left off.

"I do what I can," he told her with a shrug as he picked up the blanket at the end of the sofa and carefully tucked it around Buffy's sleeping form.

"It's hard to believe she is the Slayer," Ms. Calendar said, coming to stand beside him, "she is so tiny – so young. - I can't even imagine what it must be like for her. Never any respite – not even when she is sleeping."

Angel looked down at Buffy as she shifted in her sleep, an unhappy frown marking her sleep as less than peaceful. Before he could stop himself he reached out one hand to smooth the hair back from her face.

"A Slayer's dreams are often prophetic, sent to help or warn her," Angel said quietly. "Given the state of the world, I doubt she has many pleasant dreams."

He shifted uncomfortably under Ms. Calendar's scrutiny, feeling like a strange bug on display.

Just then Oz popped his head out of the library. "Ms. Calendar, your worm program finished its run, and I think I may have found a backdoor into the Mayor's private files. We just need to figure out..."

Grateful for the interruption, Angel took advantage of Ms. Calendar's momentary distraction to slip quietly out into the garden court.

* * *

Angel was standing on a hill overlooking Sunnydale, waiting for the sun to rise, when he heard Buffy's light footsteps behind him.

"I can understand you wanting to flee the Watcher invasion," Buffy said as she stepped up next to him, "but you better get back inside. It's almost daybreak."

"I know," he told her, never taking his eyes off the horizon, "I can smell the sunrise long before it comes."

"You're wearing that ring?" Buffy asked him worriedly, taking a hold of his left hand to see for herself.

Angel's head whipped around as an almost electric shock shot up his arm at her touch.

"Are you sure it'll be enough to protect you?" Buffy looked up and their eyes locked. For a long moment they remained frozen, then Buffy took a deep breath and added with a forced lightness, "It would look a bit strange if I went to the dance with a pile of dust as my date."

Struggling to keep the feelings racing through him hidden, Angel said the first thing that popped into his head. "Date? I thought you said..."

"That it wasn't," Buffy finished the sentence for him, dropping his hand. "It's not. Not a real one, that is. Just a pretend date – you know – we'll both pretend that it's a date – even though it's not. So, we'll go there together and we'll dance..."

"Dance?" Angel asked startled. Somehow he didn't think that she was talking about a waltz or cotillion.

"Of course. Why did you think it was called a Valentine's *dance*?" His lack of enthusiasm must have shown on his face, because Buffy stepped back, her body dropping into something close to a fighting stance. Angel eyed her a bit worriedly. "I don't care if Travers thinks it's frivolous; I'm planning on dancing and having a good time! And if you don't think that's 'appropriate behavior' for a Slayer you can go to the dance with Cordelia while I go with some one who isn't totally fossilized!"

Worry quickly turned to alarm. "No! It's not that I think that *you* shouldn't dance," Angel told her quickly, "it's just that – I-I don't..." Taking a deep breath he tried again. "I haven't done much – dating lately."

"Oh." Buffy relaxed her stance and a slight blush crept into her cheeks. "I thought – never mind - I'm sure you'll do fine."

Angel appreciated her vote of confidence – unfortunately he didn't share her faith in him. He only hoped that Oz hadn't left yet and would be willing to give him some advice.

* * *

Standing in the kitchen, Angel looked down at the box of chocolates and the nosegay of spring flowers, then picked up the silver heart pendant resting beside them, still debating whether or not to give it to Buffy along with the other two.

He remembered what Oz had said as they walked through the mall. "All the dances the Mayor sponsors are always formal. That means suit and tie for the guys, fancy dresses for the girls. If you go by the traditional dating code, the guy also gives the girl some flowers. But since it's a Valentine's dance you might want to go with candy or chocolates instead – unless you know the girl is on a diet. You don't want to come across as cruel. For a more personal touch you can go with jewelry. You can score major points with a nice necklace, and you don't have to worry about the fit like you do if it's a ring. In your case, I'd go with chocolates or flowers. It's safe and noncommittal."

He had meant to, but then he had seen this little pendant - a heart clasped between two hands with a crown on top. The shopkeeper, seeing his interest, had come over and told him that it wasn't really a Valentine's present, since it was a symbol of friendship – not love. Angel had bought it without correcting him.

In Ireland, where he had grown up, this symbol had meant much more. True – the hands stood for friendship, but there was also the crown, which stood for loyalty – and the heart - which stood for love. It had been given as a pledge.

Angel looked at the pendant with a slight grimace. Why had he bought it? Why would a vampire ever pledge himself to a Slayer, and why would a Slayer ever accept such a pledge? He was here to help and protect her. So it was quite natural that he would be hyper-aware of her presence - necessary even. And just because he enjoyed her company and missed her when she wasn't around didn't mean that he was in love with her, did it? Did it? He had a sinking feeling that it meant just that.

He closed his eyes as Whistler's words came back to him: "This isn't gonna be easy. The more you live in this world, the more you see how apart from it you really are." He hadn't really understood what Whistler had been talking about then, but he was beginning to.

He lived in the same house as Buffy, went out on patrol with her, watched her joke which the others, occasionally even with him. But all the while he felt like he was standing outside – separated by a wall of cold, crystal-clear glass that let him see perfectly but never let him touch or be touched. Set apart by what he was – a vampire - a demon with a soul.

'Whistler was right,' he thought as his hand clenched around the thin chain of the necklace, 'it hurts - to be on the outside looking in at what I can never...'

Angel was jolted out of his thoughts by Buffy's voice. "This is beautiful! Whose is it?"

He opened his eyes to find Buffy standing right in front of him, the pendant resting on her open hand as she admired its intricate design.

"Yours," at her startled glance, he hurried to add, "if you want it. - Oz said that jewelry, flowers, or chocolates were what you're supposed to give your date for Valentine's day."

Buffy spotted the chocolates and flowers on the table beside him and smiled. "So you got all three?"

Angel shrugged and let go of the chain. "I wasn't sure which you would like."

"Well, if I have to pick just one, I'll pick the necklace." Buffy decided without any hesitation.

Angel stared hat her, then reminded himself sternly that the shopkeeper hadn't known what the design stood for; likely Buffy didn't either. A speculation confirmed by her next words. "I've never seen anything like this. Does it have some special meaning?"

Not ready to tell her the truth and have her laugh in his face, or worse, refuse to let him help any longer, he simply told her: "The shopkeeper said that it stood for friendship." Hoping to stave off further questions, he picked up the flowers and chocolates from the table and held them out to her. "And these are for you as well."

Slipping the pendant over her head Buffy looked at the box of chocolates. "Wow, Godiva. You really went all out! – Actually I have something for you as well." She reached up under her right sleeve and after a moment pulled out one of her stiletto knifes, still in its arm-sheath.

"They still don't know what type of demon we may be dealing with, but it seems that a lot of them can only be dispatched by specially enchanted or blessed weapons. Wesley has sent out a call for any other such weapons in the possession of the Council to be sent here. Giles is smuggling in what we have, and he and Ms. Calendar will break them out if there is any trouble at the dance. But I thought it might be a good idea if you had this." She handed him the knife. "It worked pretty well against those magical frogs, and it's small enough to hide somewhere under your tux – which – by the way – you look great in."

"Thanks," he said, accepting the knife, "so do you. Look great, I mean."

Giving him a brilliant smile, she threaded her arm through his. "Let's go knock 'em dead – though not literally – unless they turn into demons that is."

* * 8 * *

"The dance is at the high school again?" Buffy asked as they pulled up in front of the school.

"Yeah, but because it's such a beautiful day, they decided to have it out in the Quad instead of in the gym." Sandy answered, accepting the arm of her date - a cute, young Watcher named Kevin Foster. "Rumor has it that Snyder picked the DJ, so there is bound to be a lot of 70's and 80's songs in the selection, but I refuse to let that ruin my fun."

"Oh, come on!" Kevin protested. "They had some great songs in the eighties!"

"Well, if the DJ takes requests, maybe you can introduce me to some of them," Sandy teased him with a slight smile, "I'm always open to new experiences."

Buffy saw a slight flush creep up Kevin's neck and suppressed a smile. She turned back to see Angel stepping hesitantly out of the patch of shadows beneath the trees. An expression of awe spread across his face as he slowly pivoted to face the sun. He stretched out his hands to catch the sun's rays.

"Angel? You alright?" Buffy asked him when he just stood there motionless.

"It's just – I'm still not used to it," he answered quietly.

Buffy nodded her understanding. "I guess it must be pretty amazing after what – 200 years?"

"Give or take a few." Angel agreed absentmindedly.

When he showed no signs of snapping out of his reverie any time soon, Buffy walked over to tug on one of his hands. "Come on, the others will start to wonder what's keeping us."

He turned to look at her, and her breath caught in her throat at the open, childlike wonder on his face. But even as she watched, his eyes began to darken with some deeper emotion. Buffy felt her face heat and her hands grow cold as she lost herself in the bottomless depths of his warm brown eyes, unable to look away. She felt herself drawn to him by an almost irresistible force and half expected him to lean down and kiss her – instead he pulled away with a quiet "We should go in."

"Yes, we should," she agreed in a voice that sounded much too calm to be her own.

Without another word they turned and walked up the school steps.

* * *

Buffy watched the couples as they danced on the parquet floor set up at one end of the Quad. Sandy had been right about the DJ. There were a lot of old songs being played, but though she had never heard most of them, they had a nice beat that made her feet itch with the desire to be out there.

So why wasn't she?

In spite of his earlier misgivings about his dancing skills, Angel had gamely asked her to dance, clearly determined to fulfill his obligations as her date, no matter how awkward he felt surrounded by all these teenagers.

She had declined.

Angel had then pointed out to her that Owen hadn't brought a date and would probably be happy to dance with her. But the problem wasn't that she didn't want to dance with Angel, the problem was that she suddenly found that she did – way too much – and that scared her. She remembered all too well what had happened in the other universe, and she had no intentions of following in her double's footsteps – that way lay heartbreak and disaster.

So instead of dancing and having a good time, she stood here with a glass of punch in her hands and watched while Angel stood uncertainly half a step to the side and behind her. Both of them acutely aware of the awkwardness between them but unable to think of a way to ease it.

The tension between them mounted to the point where she welcomed even the sight of her Watcher.

"Wesley." She greeted him without any of her usual hostility, too glad for the distraction.

"Buffy, Angel," he returned her greeting, "Mr. Giles sent me to tell you that he stowed the bag with the weapons under the far end of the refreshment table. Someone from our team will stay near it at all times, ready to break them out at a moment's notice. - I'd say that the Mayor will be in for quite a surprise should he decide to ascend today!"

Buffy smiled at his barely hidden excitement.

"Of course we all hope that he won't," Buffy reminded him.

"What? Yes, yes, of course," Wesley agreed quickly, "terribly bad form to turn into a demon at a Valentine's party, not at all the thing. Bound to ruin the dancing. - Speaking of dancing, I'm happy to see that you have come to your senses on that head. Not at all appropriate for a Slayer to indulge in. Mr. Travers will be glad to hear it."

"Oh, and I just live for Mr. Travers' approval," Buffy told him sourly, "now if you'll excuse me - I need to find the ladies room." She took two steps away, then stopped and raised an eyebrow at Wesley. "Assuming that that's appropriate for a Slayer to indulge in?"

When Wesley just stared at her bewildered, she turned and stalked off towards the bathrooms.

Finding Cordelia adjusting her make-up in front of the bathroom mirror did nothing to improve Buffy's mood. Ignoring the other girl Buffy turned on the tap and let the cold water run over her hands, hoping that it would cool her temper in turn.

"Piece of advice," Cordelia said, looking at Buffy's reflection in the mirror, "several thin layers of foundation work much better as a cover-up, and you really should have put some ice on those bags under your eyes, not to mention..."

"Cordelia, no one asked you, so why don't you just shut up." Buffy told her curtly, in no mood to put up with any of Cordelia's veiled insults.

"Hey, no need to take out your bad mood on me!" Cordelia protested. "You should have known that just because you managed to trick Angel into taking you, didn't mean that he was actually going to ask you to dance with him. Unlike Owen, he is old enough to have more sophisticated tastes. Why would he dance with a freak when he could have a real girl for a partner?"

"Well, that would leave you out, now wouldn't it?" Buffy shot back stung. "And for your information, he *did* ask me to dance – I just didn't want to."

"Oh, sure!" Cordelia gave a delicate snort as she closed her lipstick and stuck it back into her purse. "Let me guess, you lost your taste for it because you did too much of it with Owen at the Winter Brunch?"

Furious, Buffy stalked out of the bathroom without answering. Here she was, trying to play it safe by not dancing with Angel, and Wesley thought she was trying to suck up to Travers while Cordy was convinced that she was making a virtue out of necessity! Well, to hell with playing it safe. Likely she was only being paranoid anyway. It was just a dance. Lots of people danced together. Didn't mean they were doomed to end up in bed together.

Angel was still standing where she had left him talking to Wesley – or more correctly – listening, since Wesley seemed to be the one doing all the talking.

"Ah, there you are, Buffy. I was just telling Angel here..." Wesley greeted her, but Buffy interrupted, a bright smile plastered on her face, "that it really isn't fair of me to keep him from dancing just because he got stuck with a Slayer for a date. You're quite right, Wesley, and I intend to remedy that at once!" With that she pulled Angel into the crowd of couples moving to the pounding rhythm of the music.

The fast dance-song ended just as they found a clear space among the many couples and the first cords of a slow song rang out. Feeling a bit nonplussed, Buffy hesitated as the couples around them either left the floor or pulled each other close. This wasn't exactly what she had had in mind when she had decided to take Angel up on his earlier offer of a dance.

"We don't have to..." Angel offered, motioning back the way they had come.

Buffy caught a glimpse of Cordelia watching them, a superior smile playing across her lips, clearly assuming that Angel was trying to back out of having to slow-dance with her. Which he might be, Buffy admitted to herself. Just because the Angel of the other universe had fallen in love with that Buffy, didn't mean this one even liked her. She was nothing like that other Buffy, after all.

"You'd rather not dance with a freak." Buffy stated flatly, walking away from him.

But Angel took a hold of her arms and pulled her back around to face him. "You are not a freak. You're..."

He trailed off and again Buffy felt caught in his expressive eyes. She licked her lips nervously, her heart suddenly racing, but all Angel did was to slide one hand down to capture hers while his other arm wrapped around her back. Buffy froze, torn with indecision. Then she deliberately closed her eyes and leaned her head against his broad chest, giving herself over to the moment and the music. Idly she wondered at the irony that a Vampire Slayer should feel safe and protected in the arms of a vampire.

The music came to an end and Buffy opened her eyes to see the Mayor walk up to the podium at the back of the dance floor. Loathe to break contact and lose the all too rare feeling of peace and security, she kept her left arm draped around Angel's lower back and simply pivoted to face the Mayor.

"Valentine's Day is a celebration of love – and of life. A day to reaffirm old bonds – and to forge new ones," the Mayor began as he scanned the crowd of teenagers in front of him. "For some of us, the promises made today will change the rest of our lives..."

Angel tightened his arm around Buffy's shoulder to get her attention and tilted his chin up at the sky. "The sun is getting weaker."

Buffy looked up at the cloudless sky. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure. The ring protects me from the sun, but it doesn't dim my awareness of it." Angel scanned the Quad. "And that's not all. I can feel something – building."

So could Buffy, now that he had drawn her attention to it. "Let's get closer to Giles and the weapons," she whispered, drawing him over towards the Buffet tables.

It was getting noticeably darker. Something was sliding in front of the sun, draping a blanket of deepest shadow over the whole town of Sunnydale.

"An eclipse?" Buffy suggested.

"Not a natural one," Angel countered, "it's happening much too fast."

They reached the tables. Giles had cleared a section, sweeping the dishes on it unceremoniously onto the floor, and was laying out the weapons with quick efficiency.

"There are vampires in the buildings around us," Angel said grimly, picking up a big fighting axe, "and without the sun..."

Giles simply nodded. "Leave them to the rest of us. Jenny and the others are in the crowd, giving out weapons and getting them organized." He handed Buffy a sleek sword and a loaded crossbow. "Dr. Warren put a special tip on this quarrel. If you're careful you might put someone's eye out with it."

"I'll do my best." Buffy accepted the weapons with a curt nod.

A scream drew their attention back to the dance floor. The crowd was falling back as the head of a gray, snakelike creature became visible above their heads. Buffy watched as it rose higher, growing and changing before her very eyes.

"Recognize it?" Buffy asked, never taking her eyes off the demon snake.

"No," Giles answered, "but I don't think the flame-throwers will do much good. Most snakelike demons are immune to fire."

"Well, light one under his tail anyway, and if it doesn't phase *him*, I'm sure at least the vampires will be happy to see you brought them." Buffy shrugged, then turned to Angel. "You ready?"

* * 9 * *

Standing next to Wesley while the man kept rattling on, Angel regretted that he had ruined this dance for Buffy.

It had started out well enough, thanks to Oz' expert advice. Buffy had been delighted by the flowers and chocolates. The invisible wall that always separated him from the rest of the world had melted away at her touch, at the touch of the warm sun on his face as he stepped out of the shadows that shrouded his whole existence. For the first time in over 200 years, he had felt like a real person, almost as if he were human again.

Buoyed by the heady feeling, he had recklessly asked Buffy to dance, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that kept telling him that he would look like an utter fool trying to move the way these teenagers were.

Buffy had turned him down, shattering the brief illusion of normalcy. So what if the Gem of Amarra let him walk in the sun? Neither that nor his restored soul changed the harsh fact that he was nothing but and could never be anything but a vampire.

It might be an unpleasant reality, but Angel's whole existence was filled with unpleasant realities, and he had learned long ago that there was nothing to be gained by trying to ignore them. So he had stepped back into the shadows and behind his invisible wall, accepting his place but wishing that there was something he could do to make it up to Buffy.

Her Watcher had come up to let them know where Giles had stashed the weapons and to commend Buffy for not dancing. Not unsurprisingly that had done nothing to improve Buffy's mood. She had stalked off, supposedly to the bathroom, seething with resentment.

She returned a short while later, radiating fury and determination.

"Ah, there you are, Buffy. I was just telling Angel here..." Wesley greeted her, but Buffy interrupted, a bright smile plastered on her face, "that it really isn't fair of me to keep him from dancing just because he got stuck with a Slayer for a date. You're quite right, Wesley, and I intend to remedy that at once!" With that she took a hold of Angel's hand and pulled him into the crowd of dancing couples.

But they had no sooner reached an open space on the dance floor than the pounding rhythm of the music faded into a slow love song. Buffy froze as the couples around them either pulled each other close or left the floor.

Seeing the trapped look on her face Angel motioned back the way they had come. "We don't have too..."

Angel watched a myriad of expressions chase across Buffy's face before it became an expressionless mask.

"You'd rather not dance with a freak." Buffy stated flatly, walking away from him.

'What?' Angel thought baffled. 'Where did that come from? Did Owen turn her down for a dance and now she thinks...'

He took a hold of Buffy's shoulders and pulled her back around to face him. "You are not a freak!" he told her emphatically. "You're..." He trailed off helplessly. How could he even begin to describe what she was? He stared down at her, at a loss for words.

Her tongue flicked out to lick her lips and Angel just caught himself before he leaned down to kiss her. 'Dance,' he reminded himself, 'all she wants is someone – anyone – to dance with.'

Hesitantly he slid one hand down to capture hers and slipped his other arm around her back. He felt her stiffen and fully expected her to pull free.

Instead she closed her eyes and melted against him.

Angel fought to hide the sudden desire that swept through him as her warm body molded itself against his. For a moment her nearness threatened to overwhelm him, filling all of his senses. She smelled so good. So – tempting. He could almost taste her skin...

'Focus! If you can control your hunger, you can control this,' he told himself firmly, 'this is just another type of hunger. Breathe!' He drew in a deep lung-full of air and her sweet scent sent a shiver down his back. 'Okay. Bad idea. Don't breathe. Just dance.'

Good advice. But he didn't take it. He continued to breathe in her scent, to soak up her warmth, to memorize the feel of her body against his. So what if it hurt to know that this was just a dance, that it didn't mean anything? This was already more than he had ever dreamt of.

Angel only noticed that the dance had come to an end when Buffy pulled her hand out of his and pivoted to watch as the Mayor stepped up to the podium. But she kept her other arm wrapped around his waist and made no move to dislodge his arm still wrapped around her back.

"Valentine's Day is a celebration of love – and of life. A day to reaffirm old bonds – and to forge new ones..." Angel barely listened to the Mayor's words. A sudden unease made him tighten his arm around Buffy's shoulder. "The sun is getting weaker."

Buffy looked up at the cloudless sky. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure. The ring protects me from the sun, but it doesn't dim my awareness of it." Angel scanned the Quad. "And that's not all. I can feel something – building."

"Let's get closer to Giles and the weapons," Buffy whispered, drawing him over towards the Buffet tables.

It was getting noticeably darker. Something was blocking out the sun, making it safe for vampires to come out if any of them would be foolhardy enough to risk the sun reappearing just as suddenly as it had disappeared.

"An eclipse?" Buffy suggested.

"Not a natural one," Angel countered, "it's happening much too fast."

Angel spotted the first vampire just as they reached the table where Giles had spread out the weapons they had smuggled in. Others quickly joined that first one. Too many too quickly for them not to have known about what was going to happen here.

"There are vampires in the buildings around us," Angel said grimly, picking up a big fighting axe, "and without the sun..."

Giles simply nodded. "Leave them to the rest of us. Jenny and the others are in the crowd, giving out weapons and getting them organized." He handed Buffy a sleek sword and a loaded crossbow. "Dr. Warren put a special tip on this quarrel. If you're careful you might put someone's eye out with it."

"I'll do my best." Buffy accepted the weapons with a curt nod.

A scream drew their attention back to the dance floor. The crowd was falling back as the head of a gray, snakelike creature became visible above their heads. Angel watched as it rose higher, growing and changing before her very eyes.

"Recognize it?" Buffy asked, never taking her eyes off the demon snake.

"No," Giles answered, "but I don't think the flame-throwers will do much good. Most snakelike demons are immune to fire."

"Well, light one under his tail anyway, and if it doesn't phase *him*, I'm sure at least the vampires will be happy to see you brought them." Buffy shrugged, then turned to Angel. "You ready?"

Angel kept the ax close against his side as he and Buffy pushed their way through the crowd of milling teenagers. He could feel the power raised by the Mayor's ascension hanging in the air like a thick fog. And laced through it all a demanding, mindless hunger.

He had felt that same hunger as he had clawed his way out of his grave and into his new life as a vampire. His eyes narrowed as he considered the unmoving wall of vampires ringing the Quad. Who had called them – and why weren't they attacking the humans?

His eyes widened with a sudden realization. They were not here to feed, only to ensure that there would be plenty to feed on for the newly transformed Mayor.

He hurried to catch up with Buffy. "We need to get these people out of here. You said that the Mayor needed a lot of kids to feed on. We can't let him do that."

"You think he won't be able to sustain the change if he doesn't get to feed?" Buffy asked hopefully.

Angel grimaced. "Or that he might be unkillable if he does."

"Not what I wanted to hear," Buffy sighed, "This is not going to be easy."

'More like hopeless,' Angel thought as he dove in front of a teenage boy and swung his ax at the feelers surrounding the gaping demon maw. The Mayor's head simply snaked back up into the air with an annoyed hiss, and Angel's swing went wide. He saw the demon snake's pupils whirl as it focused in on a new target: Cordelia, standing over by the tables arguing with Wesley and Giles.

Even though Angel knew he would never get there in time, he screamed a warning and launched himself in their direction.

Hearing his warning, Wesley spun around and raised the fire extinguisher he was holding. A thick, gray cloud shot out and again the Mayor changed the direction of his attack.

This time Buffy stopped him from closing on his victim with a well-placed crossbow bolt to his left eye, scoring a solid hit. The snake reared up to its full height, screaming with pain and frustration, a thin stream of yellow ichor dripping from the corner of its eye.

Angel saw one of the Watchers attack the demon from the rear with a flame-thrower, but the Mayor simply twitched his tail, swiping him out of the way. There was a ball of flame, then the sickening smell of burnt meat and the screams of burning vampires as the flame-thrower exploded, creating a sizable hole in the wall of vampires. Unfortunately anyone trying to escape that way would have to make it past the Mayor first.

"Hey – wormy!" Buffy's voice rang out from the other side of the Quad.

The Mayor's head whipped around to hover in the air above.

'Oh god,' Angel realized, 'she is playing bait to clear the way for the others to leave.' Before the thought was more than half formed, Angel was already in motion. 'She doesn't even have a weapon!' Then even more desperate, 'I'll never get there in time. He'll eat her!'

But both he and the Mayor got a surprise when Buffy suddenly ducked down coming back up with a pike in her hands, and instead of a tasty morsel between his teeth, the Mayor found a sharp pike jammed up his nostril. Whipping his head to the side, he smashed both the pike and Buffy against the side of the stairs leading up to the second story. There was a sharp splintering sound, then Buffy slid to the ground unconscious. Shaking his head, the Mayor dislodged the last pieces of the pike then headed for the motionless Slayer.

With an inarticulate scream, Angel put all his energy into a desperate burst of speed that put him between the fallen Slayer and the hungry jaws of the demon bent on devouring her. The next moment he found himself thrown up into the air. He got one last look at Buffy's crumpled form before the Mayor's jaws closed around him, plunging his world into utter blackness.

* * 10 * *

"Valentine's Day is a celebration of love – and of life. A day to reaffirm old bonds – and to forge new ones," the Mayor began as he scanned the crowd of teenagers in front of him. "For some of us, the promises made today will change the rest of our lives." He could feel the power building and felt the first twinges of the coming transformation. Taking a deep breath he tried to focus on his speech. He had spent hours deciding just what he was going to say, which poems to read to try and convey just what this day meant to him and to Sunnydale. This was the culmination of more than a hundred years of careful planning and he wanted to savor it. "A lot of you have submitted poems..." An especially sharp pain ripped through him, throwing him off track.

An uneasy murmur swept through the crowd as they noticed that the protection of the sun began to wane.

The Mayor forced himself back upright. "But I don't think that there will be time to read any of them. I just want you all to know..."

The pain suddenly spiked, washing away his awareness of anything else. His body was convulsing, stretching, changing. The world around him was distorted into chaos. All was darkness and confusion. Slowly his senses began to clear and the world settled into a new order. Everything looked so much smaller and all the colors were different. But the biggest change was the smell – and the hunger.

His head darted forward, tracing a particularly tempting smell to its source, only to pull back startled, as the first smell was drowned out by something cold and sharply inhuman. For a moment he hesitated, trying to orient himself, to sort out the information with which his new senses bombarded him. But it was hard to think past the hunger.

The hunger. Memory surfaced. He needed to eat to sustain the change.

Again his head darted forward. Only to find the delicious smell cut off by a cloud of vile smelling dust. Not wasting any time, he changed the direction of his attack, only to feel a searing pain piercing his left eye. Getting more and more annoyed, he reared back up with a scream of frustration. He needed to feed!

Something tickled the base of his tail, and he twitched it impatiently to get rid of the distraction, looking for another target.

"Hey – wormy!" Wormy? Wormy?!? His head whipped around to fix on a small figure standing a little ways away from the others. His nostrils widened. It smelled different, but not exactly bad. And besides, his hunger was getting to the point where he would do almost anything to assuage it.

The pain of getting a spear shoved up his nose was drowned out by the growing frustration of once again being denied his meal. A quick shake of the head dislodged the annoying toothpick. In a near frenzy now, he grabbed his meal, tossed it up into the air, and swallowed it in one gulp.

But instead of taking the edge off his hunger, as he had hoped, it felt like he had swallowed a rock. A rock whose rough edges were digging uncomfortably into his soft insides, causing his stomach to cramp. He twisted, then hissed as a sharp, needlelike pain shot up his spine.

* * * * *

Wesley held up the fire extinguisher, gesturing at Mr. Giles with the nozzle. "If we can find enough of these, we should be able to control any fires we set. Unless you have a better idea on how to get all these people safely past the vampire barricade?"

"I have nothing against burning down the school," Cordelia said, "but how..."

Wesley saw Mr. Giles' eyes widen as a scream sounded and spun around just in time to see a huge snake's head coming straight at them. Instinctively his hand tightened around the trigger of the extinguisher, sending a thick cloud shooting out and the demon veered off to avoid the noxious fog.

"Nice reflexes!" Cordelia complimented him.

Before Wesley had recovered from his surprise, there was a fiery explosion over to his right.

"Well, you got your fire," Mr. Giles pointed out dryly.

'Thomas. That was Thomas holding the flame-thrower,' he thought numbly, then forced himself to focus on the situation at hand. "We need to somehow lure the Mayor far enough away for people to get safely by, and we need to keep the other vampires from closing the gap. Where is Buffy?"

"Luring the Mayor away." Cordelia motioned towards the other side of the Quad.

Wesley turned just in time to see Buffy slide down the wall and land in a crumpled heap on the ground. He was halfway across the Quad before it ever occurred to him to wonder what he thought he could do against something that batted a Slayer around as if she werre nothing more than a stuffed toy.

'Stupid to try and fight a demon with a fire extinguisher,' he admitted to himself, 'never going to get there in time. You're just going to get yourself killed.' But he kept going anyway.

He saw the Mayor's open jaws coming for Buffy and screamed inside. 'God no! Don't make me watch her die!'

Moving fast enough to be almost a blur, a figure darted in front of Buffy. Wesley watched the Mayor toss Buffy's rescuer high into the air and swallow the body down in one big gulp.

'Angel. That was Angel,' his brain supplied belatedly, then 'how can anyone move that fast?'

He crouched over Buffy's still form, wondering at how steady his hands were as he aimed the nozzle and waited for the demon to return for a second helping.

But instead the giant snake began to writhe with clearly increasing discomfort.

Buffy began to stir beside him, but he didn't dare to take his eyes of the Mayor. Oz and Larry came over to crouch beside him, both loaded down with weapons.

"What's gotten into him?" Buffy asked.

"He's finding his last bite a bit hard to swallow." Oz answered dryly.

"Damn! There goes our plan of weakening him through starvation." Buffy grumbled.

"Somehow I get the impression, his last meal isn't exactly agreeing with him." Oz shrugged.

Larry snorted. "Serves them both right."

Wesley noted the hostility in Larry's voice and wondered at it. 'What did the boy have against Angel?'

"I guess, I better see what I can do to increase his bellyache then." Buffy said.

Out of the corner of his eye Wesley saw Buffy reach over to inspect the weapons the boys had brought with them. "Where is Angel? We could really use his help on this one."

Wesley took his eyes off the writhing snake for the first time, wondering how best to tell Buffy.

"The Mayor ate him." Larry stated bluntly.

Wesley watched as all blood drained from Buffy's face. "No," she whispered. Her hands tightened in a white-knuckled grip around the ornate lance in her hands as she slowly shook her head in denial. "No."

"I'm going to kill him," she announced quietly.

"Buffy..." Wesley began, then trailed off at the look on her face. What could he say? Someone had to kill the Mayor. Buffy was the Slayer. It was her job – no matter the risks to herself. But he found himself unable to let her face those risks alone. "How can I help?"

He half expected her to tell him to take a flying leap, given her attitude towards him since the disaster at Franton. But after only the slightest hesitation she offered: "I'll worry about the Mayor. You guys keep any vampires off my back."

"We brought a couple of bows," Oz announced, "we'll cover you."

Buffy turned away without another word, but Wesley couldn't just let her go like that.

"Buffy." Her arm felt as hard as iron under his hand. "Please be careful, I..." he trailed off, swallowing hard.

For a moment her hard gaze softened just the slightest bit. "You're not half-bad for a Watcher, Wesley," she told him, "you know that?"

An agonized scream interrupted them. A shudder ran along the snake's length, then its lower half dropped lifelessly to the ground. Wesley watched stunned as the Mayor doubled up on himself and began to attack his own middle with his teeth, leaving long gashes behind.

"Angel?" Buffy whispered in disbelief.

"Looks like he's playing Jonah to the Mayor's wale." Oz remarked.

Wesley shook his head. "No one could have survived getting swallowed by a demon." But Buffy was long gone, lance gripped firmly in her hand.

Mindful of Buffy's instruction, Wesley quickly scanned the Quad for any vampires. It looked like the Mayor's strange behavior had finally shattered their unusual discipline. They were running in every direction, attacking whomever was closest to them. A group of about five were headed for the Slayer, clearly hoping to snare Buffy while she was preoccupied with the Mayor. Picking up a loaded crossbow Wesley hurried forward to intercept them, closely followed by the Oz and Larry.

Their arrows each found a heart and three of the vampires exploded into dust, but there was no time to reload before the other two were on them. They did their best but it didn't look good for any of them - when the vampires suddenly broke and ran. Breathing hard Wesley turned to see Buffy standing in front of the lifeless corpse of the Mayor, her lance buried deeply in his left eye.

Movement drew Wesley's attention to one of the gashes in the snake's belly. He watched in horrified fascination as the gash bulged apart and a gore covered Angel tumbled out.

Buffy reached for him, but Angel warned her off with a gasped: "Don't touch me! This stuff burns like acid."

'Good god!' Wesley recoiled, seeing the angry blisters that covered every inch of visible skin. 'He's not human!' Then he reminded himself of how Angel had thrown himself between Buffy and the Mayor. It was thanks to this – whatever type of demon he was – that he still had a Slayer to watch over.

His eyes fell on the fountain in the middle of the Quad. Taking off his jacket, he used it to shield his hands against the gore covering Angel and began to pull him towards the fountain. Following his example, Buffy picked up a tablecloth and grabbed a hold of Angel's other arm. Between them, they managed to tip him over the edge and into the fountain.

Wesley threw a questioning glance over at Buffy when Angel stayed under water, making no effort to surface. "Won't he drown?"

Buffy only shook her head, never taking her eyes of the submerged figure.

Wesley threw a quick look around to see if any of the other Watchers were close enough to notice what was going on here, but they were all too busy driving off the last of the vampires. It looked like he wouldn't have to explain why he was helping a demon, instead of trying to kill it.

Wesley was starting to get worried despite Buffy's assurance that Angel wouldn't drown, when one of Angel's hands broke the surface and grabbed the rim of the fountain.

Wesley stared in disbelief at a pale hand with all traces of the acid burn that had covered it only minutes before completely gone. His eyes fastened on the green gem in the ring on Angel's hand. In what book had he seen this ring before? Did it have anything to do with Angel's ability to survive getting swallowed by a demon snake?

Buffy helped a dripping Angel out of the fountain, draping one of his arms over her shoulder to hold him upright.

"Are you alright?" she asked him quietly.

Angel nodded. "Just dead tired."

Buffy gave a relieved snort, then threw a quick look at the slowly lightening sky. "The sun's coming back."

"Good. That should take care of the rest of the Mayor's vampires." Angel answered, but Wesley saw the look that passed between them, and knew something more was being asked and answered here.

"Thanks for the loan of your knife," Angel continued, holding it out to her, "it certainly came in handy."

"Keep it," Buffy told him, "you might have to cut through some other demon's spinal cord sometime."

"I was just trying to get out." Angel said wryly. "The skin was too tough to cut through, though. Nice of the Mayor to provide me with an exit, or I would have had to crawl all the way back up to his mouth."

As Wesley watched the pair make their way towards the exit, he wondered again what exactly Angel was, and how many of the White Hats knew they harbored a demon in their midst.

He suspected that Giles did. Probably some of the others as well. It might explain Larry's hostility towards Angel earlier.

He felt slightly miffed that none of them had seen fit to trust him with this little tidbit of information, but after Travers' performance yesterday afternoon, he couldn't really blame them for their lack of trust.

For a moment he considered simply asking one of them about Angel, but then decided that he would see what he could find in the books back at the mansion first before confronting any of them.

End of chapter four.


End file.
